US Authorities: Ukrainian Passenger Plane Shot Down by Iranian Surface-to-Air Missile

[Image source=AP Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunwoo Lee] It has been reported that the United States is currently assessing that the Ukrainian passenger plane that crashed in Tehran, the capital of Iran, was shot down by an Iranian surface-to-air missile. U.S. authorities view the downing of the passenger plane as an accidental incident rather than an intentional act by the Iranian government, but there are concerns that it could become another flashpoint in the ongoing tensions between the two sides.

Foreign media outlets including Bloomberg News cited a U.S. Department of Defense official on the 9th (local time), reporting that "U.S. analysts discovered Iranian radar signal data at the time the Ukrainian passenger plane crashed through intelligence satellites, and the passenger plane was shot down by an Iranian surface-to-air missile." It is known that Iranian radar had been tracking the Ukrainian passenger plane before the surface-to-air missile was launched. Thermal signal data captured by U.S. intelligence satellites showed that the passenger plane was airborne when signals from two surface-to-air missiles were detected, but immediately afterward, an explosion occurred near the plane, which then caught fire as it crashed. Videos released by The New York Times and others show the plane engulfed in flames shortly after takeoff during the dark night.

CNN reported that the missile that shot down the passenger plane was an Iranian Russian-made SA-15 surface-to-air missile. The report added, "U.S. Department of Defense officials believe this incident was caused by an accidental missile launch by Iran." Earlier, Russian news agency TASS also reported that Oleksiy Danilov, Secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, suggested that the missile that downed the Ukrainian passenger plane might have been a Russian-produced Tor surface-to-air missile.

The Ukrainian International Airlines Boeing 737-800 passenger plane crashed shortly after taking off from Imam Khomeini International Airport in Iran on the 7th (local time). Since the crash occurred shortly after the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps attacked two U.S. military bases in Iraq, speculation about an Iranian missile strike has persisted. The Iranian government has denied any connection between the missile attack and the plane crash, stating that the passenger plane crashed five hours after the attack on the U.S. bases and that the missile launch area was far from the crash site.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.