US officials say they believe the Ukrainian International Airlines Boeing 737-800 was hit by a missile, CBS says.

Ukraine earlier said it was examining whether a missile strike brought down the aircraft - but Iran ruled this out.

The crash came just hours after Iran carried out missile strikes on two airbases housing US forces in Iraq.

CBS News quoted US intelligence sources as saying a satellite detected infrared "blips" of two missile launches, followed by another blip of an explosion.

Meanwhile, Newsweek quoted a Pentagon and senior US intelligence officials, as well as an Iraqi intelligence official, as saying they believed the Ukrainian plane was hit by a Russian-made Tor missile.

US President Donald Trump said on Thursday that "I have my suspicions" over the plane. "Somebody could have made a mistake," he said.

Amid tensions heightened by the US killing of top Iranian general Qasem Soleimani on 3 January, Iran has said it will not hand over the recovered black box flight recorders to Boeing, the plane's manufacturer, or to the US.

Under global aviation rules Iran has the right to lead the investigation, but manufacturers are typically involved.

What does US media report?

In separate reports, CBS News and Newsweek said US and Iraqi intelligence officials were confident the Ukrainian plane was brought down by a missile fired by Iran.

CBS published a brief report on Twitter, saying the officials were confident the plane was shot down.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fURfbNraMn4

It said this information was based on US intelligence, which sources said picked up signals of a radar being turned on. US satellites also reportedly detected two missile launches shortly before the Ukrainian plane exploded.

Meanwhile, Newsweek quoted US and Iraqi officials as saying they believed the aircraft was hit by a Russia-built Tor M-1 surface-to-air missile system, known as Gauntlet by Nato.

Two Pentagon officials assessed that the incident was accidental, Newsweek added.

It quoted sources as saying that Iran's anti-aircraft systems were probably active following its attacks on the US airbases.

Source: https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbc.com/news/amp/world-middle-east-51055219

Judging from Iran's refusal to hand the levelover the black box and the level of damage that was done to the plane I knew that plane couldn't have crashed on its own. There have to be a heavy external explosion that made its parts shatter to the level pictured.

Bad target

Okay

When I said Iranian clumsy anti aircraft weapons had shot down the plane one mumu zombie was here arguing with me

Oya o. Those of you cheerleading the deaths of innocent people.

Come and partake of taking responsibility for this blood shed. Continue to cheerleader Iran on in its rascal and rogue display.


First it was aid workers. Now innocent lives. Majority below 40. Imagine the brains and the destinies wasted. Continue cheerleading Iran on its recklessness. May their bloodshed be credited to your karma bank accounts angry



Continue cheerleading Iran and its culture of killing innocent people and accusing the United States of wrong doing or any reasonable person as haters. Even the entire gulf region backs the American presence in the region buttressed by the move of its operational bases to Kuwait. Sauid Arabia has come out rightly to condemn Iran's antics. Yet some religious haters still twist reality that this is a religious war. May the blood of all the dead souls be on the account of everyone cheerleading Iran on in its madness.

Oya o. Those of you cheerleading the deaths of innocent people.

Come and partake of taking responsibility for this blood shed. Continue to cheerleader Iran on in its rascal and rogue display.


First it was aid workers. Now innocent lives. Majority below 40. Imagine the brains and the destinies wasted. Continue cheerleading Iran on its recklessness. May their bloodshed be credited to your karma bank accounts angry



Continue cheerleading Iran and its culture of killing innocent people and accusing the United States of wrong doing or any reasonable person as haters. Even the entire gulf region backs the American presence in the region buttressed by the move of its operational bases to Kuwait. Sauid Arabia has come out rightly to condemn Iran's antics. Yet some religious haters still twist reality that this is a religious war. May the blood of all the dead souls be on the account of everyone cheerleading Iran on in its madness..