Emerging Reports by BBC indicated that the government of Iran mistakenly shot down the Ukrainian plane that crashed on Wednesday, January 8, near Tehran with 176 people on board.
The Herald gathered that US officials said they believed the Ukrainian international airlines Boeing 737-800 was hit by a missile.
Ukraine earlier said it was examining whether a missile strike brought down the aircraft but was ruled out by Iran. The crash came just hours after Iran carried out missile strikes on two airbases housing US forces in Iraq.
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According to the reports, CBS news quoted US intelligence sources as saying a satellite detected infrared “blips” of two missile launches, followed by another blip of an explosion. 5 key things Trump said after the Iran strikes
NEW: "CBS News has learned U.S. officials are confident that Iran shot down a Ukrainian jetliner in the hours after the Iranian missile attack on U.S. targets. 176 people were killed, including at least 63 Canadians." https://t.co/BLBUKzzbO6 pic.twitter.com/EHENM9HgqM
— CBS Evening News (@CBSEveningNews) January 9, 2020
Meanwhile, Pope Francis, leader of the Catholic church stepped into the Iran and US war situations. The Pope urged the duo to embrace peace and dialogue, not war.
He said that both countries should desist from fueling war and conflicts in the Middle East.
That was contained in a statement made by the Pope in a yearly speech known as the “State of the World” address to ambassadors accredited to the Vatican.
Speaking to diplomats from more than 150 states, he said: “Particularly troubling are the signals coming from the entire region following the heightening of tensions between Iran and the United States.
“compromising the gradual process of rebuilding in Iraq, as well as setting the groundwork for a vaster conflict that all of us would want to avert.”