Ukraine not ruling out terror as cause of deadly plane crash in Iran

Ukraine has walked back its statement that ruled out a terror attack as a cause behind the crash of a Boeing 737 that killed all 176 people aboard shortly after takeoff in Tehran.

“Information on the causes of the plane crash is being clarified by the commission. Any statements regarding the causes of the accident prior to the decision of said commission are not official,” according to a new statement by Ukraine’s embassy in Iran, CNN reports.

Responding to a question about speculation that a rocket downed Flight PS752, Ukrainian Prime Minister Oleksiy Honcharuk said in Kiev: “Any versions before the official conclusion is just manipulation.”

Honcharuk added that Ukraine asked to join an Iranian-led probe into the crash of the Ukraine International Airlines jet.

Its flight and data recorders have been found, Iranian state broadcaster IRIB reported, citing the Tehran prosecutor.

Earlier, President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a Facebook post that the country has set up a commission to “work through all possible versions.”

The three-year-old Boeing 737-800 NG, which was bound for Kiev, was last seen on radar at 7,925 feet, according to FlightRadar 24, whose data suggest that the crash could have happened just two minutes after takeoff.

An earlier statement on the embassy’s website, which has since been deleted, ruled out a terror attack as a possible cause, adding that preliminary information suggested an engine malfunction.

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