Iran accuses U.S. of “spreading lies” about jetliner crash

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo responded Friday morning to Iran’s flat denial of intelligence suggesting it mistakenly shot down a civilian passenger jet by accepting that it was “possible it’s a mechanical failure.”

But Pompeo told Fox News, “we’ll have to see if, in fact, it’s the case that there was something more insidious than this.”

Officials have said U.S. and Canadian intelligence shows a pair of Iranian surface-to-air missiles were fired from the Tehran area early Wednesday morning — just hours after Iran launched about 15 ballistic missiles at Iraqi bases housing U.S. troops — which likely brought down the Ukrainian International Airlines jet, killing everyone on board.

There were mounting indications Friday morning that Iran shot down the civilian passenger jet in its own airspace, killing many of its own citizens early Wednesday morning. 

A video obtained by the New York Times appears to show the impact. In it you can see a bright flash, which sources tell CBS News senior foreign correspondent Elizabeth Palmer was likely the explosion of two surface-to-air missiles. 

Surveillance cameras picked up a shower of debris from the Ukrainian Boeing 737-800 that crashed just minutes after takeoff from Tehran’s main airport, killing 176 people. 

Palmer visited the crash site Friday morning and said there was barely any debris from the plane left, no security cordon around the site as Iran announced it was beginning its investigation with assistance from foreign partners, chiefly Ukraine and France. 

Watch the video above to see Palmer’s full report from Tehran.  

Iran’s state-run media said Friday that representatives from the U.S., Canada and France were on their way to the Islamic Republic to join Iranian investigators leading the investigation into the crash of the Ukrainian jet that American officials say Iran likely shot down by mistake. Iran has made clear that its own investigators will lead the probe, and said the black boxes were already being assessed at a lab in Tehran.

Hassan Rezaiefar of Iran’s Civil Aviation Organization was quoted by various Iranian outlets as saying the country’s investigators and experts from several domestic airlines were assessing the black boxes at a “suitable laboratory at Tehran’s Mehrabad Airport” to see if they could reliably analyze the information from them “inside the country.”

IRNA said if the Iranians were unable to successfully extract the data, “with the aim of preventing damage to information,” they would seek help from Russia, France, Canada or Ukraine. 

A spokesman and adviser to Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has accused the U.S. government of “spreading lies” about the crash of a Ukrainian airliner this week, saying Washington should wait for the results of the ongoing investigation. 

Ali Rabiei also offered condolences to the families of the doomed Ukrainian International Airlines plane that came down near Tehran in his statement issued late Thursday, according to Iran’s state-run news agency Tasnim. 

U.S. officials have told CBS News that intelligence shows an Iranian surface-to-air missile struck the Boeing 737-800 minutes after it took off from Tehran, likely by mistake.

The “Civil Aviation Organization of Islamic Republic of Iran has now set up a committee to probe the incident in accordance with ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organization) regulations,” Rabai said, insisting that the committee, including experts from all countries involved in the plane crash, would transparently investigate the accident and announce the results.

The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board confirmed an invite from Iran, but said it was unclear how much of a role it would be able to play given U.S. sanctions on Iran.

CBS News senior foreign correspondent Elizabeth Palmer was able Friday to briefly view the site in Tehran where the Ukrainian plane crashed two days earlier, before Iranian security officials compelled her team to leave. She said very little debris was left from the early Wednesday morning crash and there were people — not officials but apparent scavengers — poring over the scene looking for pieces to take away. 

Ukrainian investigators had not yet visited the site as of noon on Friday (3:30 a.m. Eastern).

Witnesses told Palmer they saw a truck and heavy equipment come on Thursday and take away most of the wreckage. Iran has not said where the wreckage was taken.

Palmer and her team said the crash site was large and they were only able to view one part of it, but after they visited the scene a witness told them larger pieces of the jet’s fuselage and nose had been removed. The witness said removal of both the wreckage and bodies of the victims began the day of the crash. 

See Palmer’s full report from Tehran on “CBS This Morning” at 7 a.m. Eastern.

Russian lawmakers said Friday that claims of a missile hitting a Ukrainian jetliner over Iran were “groundless” and they accused the West of prematurely assigning blame to Tehran.  

Vladimir Dzhabarov, a lawmaker in Russia’s upper house of parliament, said Friday that “we need to be cautious with conclusions. Iranians have invited Ukraine to take part in the investigation. Why would they do it if they knew they had shot (the plane) down?”

Leonid Slutsky, a lawmaker with Russia’s lower house of parliament, echoed that sentiment and said conclusions about the cause of the crash could be politically motivated.

“Facts and solid evidence are needed, rather than vague references to intelligence findings. So far it has all been groundless,” Slutsky said.  

– Associated Press

The Ukrainian president says he is not ruling out the possibility that the plane which crashed earlier this week in Iran had been hit a by a missile.

“The missile theory is not ruled out, but it has not been confirmed yet,” Volodymyr Zelensky said in a Facebook post Friday. All 176 people on board the plane bound for Ukraine died.

Zelensky reiterated his call for “all international partners” – the U.S., Britain and Canada in particular – to share data and evidence relevant to the crash.

He also announced plans to discuss the investigation with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Friday afternoon.

– Associated Press

Iran’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Board has invited the National Transportation Safety Board and Boeing to the site of the plane crash.

In a statement, NTSB said it isn’t sure if it will accept the offer: “Due to sanctions and restrictions in place affecting participation by the NTSB and other U.S. organizations, the NTSB continues its coordination with the State Department, Treasury Department and Commerce to determine the best course of action as this investigation unfolds.”

“Close interagency coordination is of particular importance in this instance given the long-standing sanctions against Iran, which, among other things, prohibit the provision of technical data, lending of technical assistance and travel to Iran,” the NTSB said. 

Iran’s U.N. Ambassador Majid Takht Ravanchi told CBS News’ Pamela Falk on Thursday that his country was “ready to include others in the investigation.”

The Iranian envoy told CBS News that his country welcomed “the presence of the nationalities of the countries who were part of the people who were on board. If any country has any information, we would welcome the information to be investigated.”

Ravanchi added, “We have also welcomed any input that Boeing, as a company who has made this plane, to put forward and come to us and share with us anything that can facilitate the work of this investigation.”

Iranian officials are denying that one of their missiles shot down the passenger jet. A spokesman for the armed forces called the allegations ridiculous and Ali Abedzadeh, the head of the Iranian Civilian Aviation Authority, said it’s not scientifically possible.

Within hours of the crash, the aviation authority pointed toward technical failure as the cause and said the plane was on fire as it tried to return to the airport minutes after takeoff. A website affiliated with Iran’s Revolutionary Guard called the U.S. intelligence a conspiracy cooked up by Iran’s enemies. 

Ukrainian investigators arrived at the crash site to participate but they have not yet been given access to the crash site.

The Iranians have said that they will not hand over the plane’s black boxes, but will work with the Ukrainians to download and analyze the data. They said if they need extra help, they may approach other countries and specifically mentioned France.

The Transportation Safety Board of Canada announced Thursday that it has been invited by Iran to visit the site of the plane crash. The group said it accepted the invitation and is making travel arrangements.

The United States has shared intelligence suggesting Iran shot down the Ukranian Airlines plane with the “Five Eyes” alliance. That alliance is comprised of Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the U.S. 

Omidar Salani lost his sister, her husband and his 16-month-old niece in the crash. He told CBS News that it’s been “Hell” since the plane went down. 

“I hope this never happens to anybody. I [hope] nobody loses a sibling or family members and I hope nobody ever loses three members of their family in one incident and it’s — it’s very hard to deal with this,” he said. “It’s very hard to cope with it, especially at the beginning hours. Nothing makes sense, nothing — and there’s no answers and there’s no way of getting over it.” 

“She was a really good person, really good,” he added.

“Every moment, I say, ‘I’m gonna wake up. It’s a nightmare and it’s over. She’s home and I’m going to go knock on her door,'” Salani said.

Johnson issued the following statement on Thursday’s developments:

The loss of life on Ukrainian International Airlines Flight 752 is a tragedy and my thoughts are with all of those who lost loved ones. Four British nationals were among those who were killed, and we are providing support to their families at this most terrible time.

There is now a body of information that the flight was shot down by an Iranian Surface to Air Missile. This may well have been unintentional. We are working closely with Canada and our international partners and there now needs to be a full, transparent investigation.

It is vital that there should be an immediate and respectful repatriation of those who’ve lost their lives to allow their families to grieve properly. The UK continues to call on all sides urgently to de-escalate to reduce tensions in the region.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said intelligence from multiple sources, including Canadian intelligence, indicated that the plane was shot down by an Iranian surface-to-air missile. “This may well have been unintentional,” Trudeau told reporters during a press conference Thursday in Ottawa, the nation’s capital.

Of the 176 people killed in the crash, at least 63 were Canadians. Trudeau called for an in-depth investigation into the crash.

The plane was headed for Kiev. Trudeau said he spoke with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky about the crash.

Iranian authorities have said they want to keep the plane’s black boxes in Iran but told Zelensky that Ukrainian investigators will have access to them, Trudeau said. Asked about President Trump’s comment earlier Thursday that the plane was flying in a “rough neighborhood,” Trudeau said he would let Mr. Trump’s words stand for themselves.

Newly surfaced video appears to show the moment of impact as the plane was gaining altitude, CBS News transportation correspondent Kris Van Cleave reports. The video lines up with flight data that showed a normal takeoff until the plane reached an altitude of about 8,000 feet and suffered a sudden catastrophic event, Van Cleave reports.

President Trump was asked about the crash during an event at the White House on Thursday morning. “I had my suspicions,” the president said. “I don’t want to say that because other people have their suspicions also.”

“It’s a tragic thing when I see that,” Mr. Trump said. “It’s a tragic thing, but somebody could have made a mistake on the other side.”

“It was flying in a pretty rough neighborhood, and somebody could have made a mistake,” the president said. “Some people say it was mechanical. I personally don’t think that’s even a question.”

U.S. officials are confident Iran shot down a Ukrainian jetliner in the hours after the Iranian missile attack on U.S. targets earlier this week, CBS News has learned. U.S. intelligence picked up signals of a radar being turned on, sources told CBS News. 

The sources said U.S. satellites detected two surface-to-air missile launches, which happened shortly before the plane exploded.