Iran’s civil aviation chief was 'certain' Ukraine plane ‘not hit by missile’

Iran’s civil aviation boss Ali Abedzadeh had said on Friday he was “certain” a Ukrainian airliner which crashed near Tehran was not hit by a missile.

“One thing is for certain, this airplane was not hit by a missile,” Abedzadeh told reporters in Tehran on Friday, after Britain and Canada both said intelligence sources suggested a catastrophic error by Iranian air defense batteries had downed the aircraft, AFP said.

France said on Friday it was ready to join the probe into the crash that killed all 176 people abroad. Iran has since admitted to having caused the fatal crash.