'Highly likely' Iran shot down Ukrainian airliner that killed 176 people, U.S. officials say and probably an accident

U.S. intelligence officials are telling news agencies today they are confident that Iran painted the Ukrainian airliner with radar, then fired two surface to air missiles that brought down the aircraft, killing all 176 people aboard.

The footage i've got from a source - the moment the missile hit the #Flight752. I can't verify the video yet! but please let me know if you find anything. I'm in contact with the person who send this video to see if I can get a version of video which has a meta data on it pic.twitter.com/HtesW5uecB

— Nariman (@NarimanGharib) January 9, 2020

It's a working theory, but based on satellite and other signals and human intelligence.

CNN: US believes that Iran mistakenly shot down a Ukrainian airliner on Tuesday, according to multiple US officials. The working theory is based on continuing analysis of data from satellites, radar and electronic data collected routinely by US military and intelligence.

— Shimon Prokupecz (@ShimonPro) January 9, 2020

The U.S. officials quoted anonymously say they believe the downing of the Ukrainian Airlines Flight 752, which happened during a time of peak tensions between Iran and the United States after Trump's assassination of top general Qasem Soleimani, was accidental.

BREAKING @VassyKapelos reports Canada has received the information from U-S intelligence sources that its highly likely the Ukrainian airliner was shot down. Remember Transport Minister Marc Garneau said yesterday there were satellite indications"something very unusual happened"

— Tom Harrington (@cbctom) January 9, 2020

The U.S. intelligence official says satellite data shows the Ukrainian International Airlines Boeing 737-800 bound for Kyiv was airborne for two minutes after departing Tehran, when the heat signatures of two surface-to-air missiles were detected. Read the rest