Plane was shot down by Iranian missile says Trudeau

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has confirmed that the Ukrainian passenger plane that crashed in Iran killing 176 people was in fact shot down by Iranian surface-to-air missiles, likely unintentionally. 

Trudeau held a press conference today to update Canadians on the state of the investigation and indicated that intelligence from both Canadian sources and others suggests this is what happened. 

"The plane was shot down by an Iranian surface-to-air missile, this may well have been unintentional"

Canadian PM Justin Trudeau calls for a "thorough investigation" into crash of Ukrainian plane near Tehran killing 176 people, including 63 Canadianshttps://t.co/LuXBhmYD8X pic.twitter.com/1ed5TfCa8D

— BBC Breaking News (@BBCBreaking) January 9, 2020

"I want to tell Canadians and families that what we have gathered in terms of intelligence does indicate very clearly that this could very well have been an unintentional surface-to-air missile strike," he said to a room full of reporters. 

Trudeau, Vance, Sajjan and others. Trudeau says the tragedy shocked the world. Since yesterday he says ongoing talks have revealed important developments on cause that Cdns need to know. pic.twitter.com/U1chNF8Tqu

— Tonda MacCharles (@TondaMacC) January 9, 2020

Trudeau emphasized that this conclusion is based on a preliminary analysis and that a thorough, in-depth investigation is still needed in order to get more answers. 

#BREAKING: New York Times confirms video to show Ukrainian flight #PS752 and the moment a missile strikespic.twitter.com/nDiZckxyVD

— Amichai Stein (@AmichaiStein1) January 9, 2020

"We recognize that this may have been done accidentally but that just makes it more important to find out exactly what happened," he said. 

To analyze the video, we confirmed it was filmed near the plane's flight path from Tehran. It shows an explosion when a missile hit the plane, but the plane did not explode: It continued flying for several minutes and turned back toward the airport. https://t.co/mcwFWcpQbu

— The New York Times (@nytimes) January 9, 2020

Canada does not have a diplomatic relationship with Iran — ties were cut back in 2012 — so Trudeau said he will continue to work with international partners, including Ukraine, to stay informed as well as continuing to ask for Canadians to be involved in the investigation.

He added that Iran is currently choosing to keep the black boxes but they've agreed to allow Ukrainian investigators to have access to them. 

Iran is keeping the black boxes but will allow Ukrainians access. Canada cut diplomatic ties with Iran in 2012, which will make getting access and answers extremely difficult. What a horrible mess

— Robyn Urback (@RobynUrback) January 9, 2020

Trudeau also said Canada will consider steps such as economic sanctions in the case that Iran does not appear to be conducting a thorough, credible investigation. 

"It is now more important than ever to know exactly how this tragedy happened," he said. 

"Canadians want answers. That means transparency, accountability and justice. And we will not rest until we get that."