U.S. believes Iran mistakenly shot down Ukraine airliner with anti-aircraft missiles

The U.S. government thinks Iran unintentionally shot down a Ukraine airliner that crashed in Iran, killing all 176 people aboard, three U.S. officials told Reuters on Thursday.

Citing a comprehensive examination of satellite data, one official stated the U.S. government had decided with a high degree of confidence that Iranian anti-aircraft missiles brought down the plane.

The officials declared the plane had been traced by Iranian radar before the missiles were shot.

The data revealed the Ukrainian International Airlines Boeing 737-800 bound for Kiev was airborne for two minutes after leaving Tehran when the heat signs of two surface-to-air missiles were detected, one of the officials said.

That was immediately followed by an outburst in the vicinity of the plane, this official said. Heat signature data then showed the plane on fire as it went down.