Spy satellite imagery suggests that a Ukraine-bound Boeing passenger airliner that crashed shortly after takeoff in Iran was shot down by Iranian missiles, NBC News reported Thursday.
The report came as President Donald Trump said he does not believe that the crash of the plane carrying nearly 180 people near Tehran was the result of mechanical failure.
Iranian officials had originally suggested that the Boeing 737-800 fell from the skies because of a mechnical failure.
“It was flying in a pretty rough neighborhood,” Trump said of the crash, which occurred soon after Iran launched missile attacks on bases in Iraq that house U.S. and coalition forces.
“Someone could have made a mistake.”
“I have a feeling that — it’s just some very terrible, something very terrible happened, very devastating,” he said.
Rescue workers recover bodies from the wreckage of a Boeing Co. 737-800 aircraft, operated by Ukraine International Airlines, which crashed shortly after takeoff near Shahedshahr, Iran, on Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2020.
Ali Mohammadi | Bloomberg | Getty Images
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