Iran plane crash: Canada's Trudeau believes that missile downed jet

Evidence suggests an Iranian missile brought down a Ukrainian passenger plane that crashed near Tehran, possibly in error, BBC News reports, citing Western leaders.

The leaders of Canada and the UK called for a full and thorough investigation into the crash, which killed all 176 people on board.

Iran has ruled out a missile strike by its air defences.

The crash came just hours after Iran carried out missile strikes on two airbases housing US forces in Iraq.

US media have speculated that the timing of the crash suggests the plane may have been mistaken for a US warplane as Iran prepared for possible US retaliation for the strikes.

CBS News quoted US intelligence sources as saying a satellite detected infrared "blips" of two missile launches, followed by another blip of an explosion.

Meanwhile, Newsweek quoted a Pentagon and senior US intelligence officials, as well as an Iraqi intelligence official, as saying they believed Ukraine International Airlines flight PS752 was hit by a Russian-made Tor missile.

US President Donald Trump said on Thursday that he had "suspicions" about what happened to the plane.

Amid tensions heightened by the US killing of top Iranian general Qasem Soleimani on 3 January, Iran has said it will not hand over the recovered black box flight recorders to Boeing, the plane's manufacturer, or to the US.

However, Iran's Foreign Ministry has invited Boeing to take part in the official inquiry into the crash.

Under global aviation rules Iran has the right to lead the investigation, but manufacturers are typically involved.

Iranian TV pictures later in the day showed the crash site being bulldozed.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he had received intelligence from multiple sources indicating that the plane was shot down by an Iranian surface-to air missile, adding that it was possible that this was unintentional.

"This reinforces the need for a thorough investigation," he said. "Canadians have questions and they deserve answers."

But he said it was too early to apportion blame or draw any conclusions, and refused to go into detail about the evidence.

A total of 63 Canadians were on the flight, along with dozens of others who were expecting to fly on to Toronto from Kyiv.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson echoed Mr Trudeau's words and said Britain was working closely with Canada and other international partners affected by the crash.

Speaking in Canada, UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said British nationals were advised not to travel to Iran, "given the body of information that UIA Flight 752 was shot down by an Iranian surface-to-air missile, and the heightened tensions".