Video Reportedly Shows Iranian Missile Hitting Ukrainian Plane Before 176 Died in Crash

A new video appears to show the moment a Ukrainian airliner was hit by a missile shortly after takeoff from Imam Khomeini International Airport in Tehran

The video further strengthens intelligence reports cited by the US media that an Iranian missile brought down the airliner

However, Iran has denied firing a missile at the airliner A recent video that appears to show the moment a Ukrainian airliner was hit by a missile before crashing not far from the Imam Khomeini International Airport in Tehran has surfaced online.

The Ukrainian International airliner bound for Kyiv crashed shortly after takeoff from the airport in Tehran on Wednesday, January 8, killing all 176 passengers on board.

The video has further strengthened intelligence reports cited by the US media that an Iranian missile brought down the airliner. The clip shows what seemed like a rocket hitting the plane in midair then followed by a loud explosion.

Aljazeera reports that the video has been verified by Bellingcat, an independent international collective of researchers and citizen journalists, using geolocation technology and other techniques to establish the video was taken in Parand.

Though it was unclear why that person was recording at the time. Bellingcat reported that there was a possibility that two missiles were fired, prompting the person filming to start recording after hearing the sound of the fired missiles.

However Iran has denied that a missile hit the airliner, it has also asked countries whose citizens were aboard the plane to send representatives to join the process of investigating the black box.

The Washington Post had reported that the victim of the Ukrain plane disaster includes 82 Iranians, 63 Canadians, 11 Ukrainians, 9 Ukrainian crew members, 10 Swedes, 4 Afghans, 3 Germans, and 3 Britons.

The investigative journalism website Bellingcat tweeted the video and said that it had geolocated it to Parand.