Oleksiy Danilov, Secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, has revealed that the country’s passenger airliner that crashed in Iran, killing all 176 passengers and crew on board, may have been downed by a Russian-made missile, known as the “Tor cruise or Tor M1 missile.”
We reported that the plane, carrying mostly Iranians and Iranian-Canadians, crashed on Wednesday amid escalating tensions in Iran and Iraq.
Danilov said that a team of 45 Ukrainian experts has arrived in the Iranian capital to examine why the plane plunged from the sky minutes after takeoff from Imam Khomeini International Airport.
In the same vein, US President, Donald Trump had earlier on Thursday told reporters that the plane was most likely brought down accidentally by Iranian air defences.
Trump said he had a terrible feeling about the tragedy but offered no evidence.
“Somebody could have made a mistake,” Trump told reporters, adding that he had suspicions about the crash but gave no other details.
Danilov said one of the considerations was whether “the plane was hit by an air defence missile, including a [Russian-made] Tor cruise missile.”
He said other possible reasons include “an explosion inside the plane as a result of a terrorist attack”, a collision with another flying object or the explosion of one of the engines.
Danilov said the experts “intend to look for the debris of a Russian Tor air defence missile.”
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