Video appears to show the moment a missile hits the Ukrainian passenger plane that crashed in Iran

• As US and Canadian officials reported that Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 likely crashed because it had been shot down, new video emerged on social media and messaging apps showing the moment a missile struck the plane outside of Tehran, Iran.
• The video was verified as authentic by The New York Times, which spoke to the person who filmed it.
• The plane, which was bound for Kyiv, Ukraine, crashed minutes after taking off, shortly after Iran fired a barrage of missiles at US forces in Iraq. US officials believe that the plane was shot down by mistake, as Iranian defense systems were likely active following the earlier strike.
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Video circulating on social media and private chats in the messaging app Telegram appears to show the moment a surface-to-air missile struck a Ukrainian passenger jet near Tehran, Iran, early Wednesday morning.

The video was verified to be authentic by a New York Times investigative team.

Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752, had just departed from the Iranian capital of Tehran, bound for Kyiv, Ukraine. It crashed minutes after takeoff, killing all 176 on board. There were 63 Canadians on the flight.

US officials said on Thursday that the plane had likely been shot down by an Iranian surface-to-air missile, and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said that intelligence from "multiple sources" indicated that the plane was shot down.

Pentagon officials told Newsweek that the incident was probably an accident.

The missile hits the plane above Parand, the area where the signal from the plane's transponder was last received, according to The New York Times.

A small explosion occurred, but the plane was able to remain flying for several minutes, the Times reported, consistent with statements from Iranian officials that the plane had tried to return to the airport before crashing.

The crash occurred shortly after Iran fired more than a dozen missiles at US forces in Iraq in response to a US air strike that killed Iranian general Qassem Soleimani last week.

Iranian officials initially said that the plane appeared to have crashed due to a mechanical problem.