Iran Under Pressure To Explain Tehran Plane Crash After 176 Killed

Iran is facing mounting pressure to explain the destruction of a civilian airliner near Tehran hours after Iranian forces launched missile strikes against US forces.

176 people killed when an Ukrainian International Airlines Boeing 737 plunged into a nosedive and exploded shortly after take-off from Tehran’s Imam Ayatollah Khomeini International Airport on Wednesday morning.

Iran dismissed speculation that the aircraft had been downed by a missile but said it would not hand over the black boxes from the aircraft to Boeing, in an unusual move likely prompted by high tensions with the United States.

Earlier Ukraine withdrew an initial statement attributing the crash to engine failure and ruling out a terror attack, sparking an international scramble to investigate the crash

The crash came three and a half hours after Iran fired a barrage of ballistic missiles at US bases in Iraq in what it said was revenge for the assassination of general Qassim Soleimani.

Iran’s military said it had fired 22 missiles at Iraqi bases housing US troops in Erbil and Ain al-Asad. No US or Iraqi troops were killed in the half-hour bombardment.

Footage recorded by a local man showed the aircraft trailing fire before it dived into the ground and exploded in a large fireball shortly after 6am local time.

Din Mohammad Qassemi, a local villager watching the TV said he heard an almighty explosion. Assuming he was under attack from the Americans, he dived below ground into his basement.

“All the houses started to shake. There was fire everywhere,” said Mr Qassemi. “At first I thought (the Americans) have hit here with missiles and went in the basement as a shelter.”

Dead bodies, fragments of aircraft, and the victims personal belongings were discovered at the crash site near the village of Fedosiye, about 10 miles from the airport.