Iran asks Canada to share information regarding Ukraine airliner crash

Iran has asked Canada to share any information it has regarding the Ukrainian airliner crash after Candian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said that his country has intelligence from several sources to prove that Tehran has shot down the aeroplane with 176 people onboard by surface-to-air missiles.

"[Iran] asks the Canadian prime minister and any other government to share information on this incident they possess to the committee in charge of investigating the incident in Iran," Sputnik quoted a statement by Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi.

Mousavi added that Iran had invited Ukrainian experts as well as representatives of the Boeing company to join the investigation into causes of the crash.

The Boeing 737 jet with 176 people on board including 63 Canadians crashed minutes after taking off from Tehran on Wednesday morning. Eighty-two Iranians, 63 Canadians, and 11 Ukrainians died in the crash, which took place between the cities of Parand and Shahriar.

There were also 10 Swedes, four Afghans, three Germans and three British nationals among the victims. Earlier in the day, Trudeau while addressing the media said that Canada has intelligence from multiple sources that Ukrainian airliner was shot down by Iranian surface-to-air missile, adding that the action by Tehran may be 'unintentional'.

CNN reported that the United States also believes that Iran mistakenly shot down the Ukrainian airliner. President Donald Trump has indicated the plane crash was not due to mechanical issues, adding that "somebody could have made a mistake on the other side."

The crash took place on the day, Iran had launch missiles US targets in Baghdad in retaliation to the killing of Iranian military leader General Qassem Soleimani.

Meanwhile, Ukraine has opened an investigation to find out the cause of the crash. The country's officials said they are looking into multiple causes for the crash including the missile strike or terrorism.

Sweden has also joined the crash investigation on Thursday. Sweden Minister of Foreign Affairs Anne Linde told CNN that nothing was ruled out concerning the causes of the plane crash.