Live Updates: Ukrainian Security Council Says Terror Attack May Be Behind Boeing Crash in Iran

The United States has shared intelligence with Canada indicating that the ill-fated Ukrainian International Airlines flight was shot down and Canadian authorities regard the information as "credible," CBC reported on Thursday.

Ottawa regards Washington's assessment that the plane was "accidentally shot down by an Iranian missile" as "credible," the report said, citing government sources.

"I have my suspicions. I don’t want to say that because other people have those suspicions also. Somebody could have made a mistake on the other side [Iran]," Trump told reporters. "Some people say it was mechanical. I personally don’t think that’s even a question."

"I had a telephone call with @HassanRouhani. I am grateful to Iran for its willingness to collaborate and provide prompt access to all necessary data to Ukrainian specialists. Deep condolences to the families and relatives of all Iranians who died in the airplane crash in Tehran," Zelenskyy wrote on Twitter.

"The President invited the United Kingdom to join the investigation. Boris Johnson supported this idea and stressed that the best British experts should be involved," the Ukrainian presidential office said.

"Canadian Foreign Minister François-Philippe Champagne had a phone conversation with his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif on Thursday morning. During the phone call, the two sides conferred about the recent crash of a Ukrainian plane in Tehran as well as other issues of mutual interest", a statement from Iran's Foreign Ministry reads. 

The Russian Embassy in Iran said that Tehran did not seek Moscow's help in investigating the causes of the Ukrainian Boeing 737 crash. 

"No, [the Iranian side] did not ask [for our help]", the embassy said. 

"It is impossible to announce any opinion over the reason; we have formed a team to investigate the crash's causes. We will announce the final results in the near future", a senior source in Iran's Civil Aviation Organization told Sputnik, adding that the specialists had already begun their initial analysis of the black box.

"A plane with Ukrainian experts arrived in Tehran on January 9, at 3:30 [Kiev time, 01:30 GMT] ... The expert group has urgently started looking into the circumstances of the crash of Boeing 737 flight PS752", the Ukrainian National Security and Defence Council said in a statement on Thursday.

Tehran has presented its preliminary report on the Ukrainian Boeing 737 crash indicating that a fire occurred on the aircraft prior to its collapse, but the pilots did not report any malfunction, according to Iran's Civil Aviation Organisation.

"The preliminary report has been presented to Ukraine, where the aircraft is registered, to the United States as a producer, and to Canada and Sweden, whose citizens were on board, at their request", the organisation said in a statement. 

The report also specified that according to eyewitness accounts the plane caught fire while it was still in the air.

I am deeply saddened to hear the tragic news about Ukraine International flight 752.

My thoughts are with the people of Ukraine, Iran, Canada and all those who lost loved ones.

On behalf of the people of Israel we send our deepest condolences.

— ישראל כ”ץ Israel Katz (@Israel_katz) January 9, 2020

"The plane, which was initially headed west to leave the airport zone, turned right following a problem and was headed back to the airport at the moment of the crash," AFP cited the Iranian Civil Aviation Organisation as saying.