The Ukraine International Airlines Boeing 737 plane crash on Jan. 8, 2020 is believed to have been the result of an accidental missile strike by Iran, American media CBSNews reported.

Several U.S. intelligence sources stated that American satellites had picked up two surface-to-air missile launches just before the plane exploded, CBSNews reported.

CNN reported that the plane might have been mistakenly shot, as Iranian troops believed they were under attack.

Trump: 'Somebody could have made a mistake'

Speaking to reporters, U.S. President Donald Trump said that he had his suspicions over the matter and stated that "somebody could have made a mistake on the other side," both CBSNews and CNN reported.

He also stressed that the incident had nothing to do with the U.S. and noted that the plane was "flying in a pretty rough neighbourhood".

Trump said: "They could’ve made a mistake. Some people say it was mechanical. I personally don’t think that’s even a question."

Iran questions allegations

In response, the head of Iran's Civil Aviation Authority, Ali Abedzadeh, questioned the allegation that the country was involved in shooting down the plane, CNN reported.

Abedzadeh said that had the plane been hit by a missile, it would have been in free fall.

He further highlighted that the pilot had attempted to return to the airport, but failed, and questioned how such an action could have been possible if the plane had been been hit by a missile.

Ukraine not ruling out missile strike

Separately, Ukraine has stated that it is considering the possibility of a missile strike, Aljazeera reported.

The Secretary of Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council, Oleksiy Danilov, stated that one consideration was whether the plane had been hit by a Russian-made Tor cruise missile -- a weapon that has been supplied by Russia to Iran.

Searching for the debris of such a missile is on the agenda of the 45-strong Ukrainian team, which has arrived in Tehran to investigate the matter.

Danilov acknowledged that other possible reasons for the crash could include an explosion within the plane as a result of terrorism, collision with another flying object, or an explosion of one of the plane's engines.

The Guardian reported that several members of the team were also involved in the probe into the shooting down of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 over Ukraine in 2014, by Russia-armed rebels.

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has since stressed that the disaster is not a topic "for hype on social media, sensationalism or conspiracy theories", and that all possible causes must be investigated.

What about the plane's black box?

BBC reported that Iran will not be handing over the plane's black box to Boeing or the U.S., given that the incident comes at a time of heightened tensions between the two countries.

As per global aviation rules, Iran will have the right to lead the investigation.

However, investigation into crashes usually involve the plane's manufacturer, and only a few countries have the know-how to analyse black boxes.

Earlier on Jan. 9, Abedzadeh said: "We will not give the black box to the manufacturer and the Americans. This accident will be investigated by Iran's aviation organisation but the Ukrainians can also be present."

On Jan. 10, he further stated that while Iran had the expertise to decode the black box, the extent of its damage means that the decoding will be carried out by the Ukrainians, CNN reported.

Should "available equipment" be insufficient to retrieve the black box's contents, the matter will be outsourced to "experts from France or Canada", after which the results will then be made public, he added.

Top photo via AFP