How the crash of Ukrainian Flight 752 unfolded, from the plunge that killed 176 people, to allegations it was shot down by an Iranian missile

Multiple reports said US officials believe the strikes were intended as warnings and that Iran may have been shooting to miss.

The plane was going to Kyiv, Ukraine's capital.

The report was released on Thursday, the day after the crash. It is a preliminary report, citing eyewitnesses, while the final report will likely take at least a year to compile and publish.

They included 82 Iranian citizens, 63 Canadian citizens, and 11 Ukrainian citizens.

Vadym Prystaiko said in a tweet that there were also 10 Swedish citizens, four Afghan citizens, three British citizens, and three German citizens.

Iran does not acknowledge dual citizenship, and has in some cases has listed most of the Canadian figures as Iranian, leading to some confusion over the numbers.

Qassem Biniaz, an official at the Iranian Ministry of Roads and Urban Development, told state news agency IRNA that an engine caught fire and the pilot was unable to regain control, The New York Times reported.

It said the plane had been delivered as new from Boeing.

نخستین ویدئو از سقوط هواپیمای اوکراینی اطراف شهریار pic.twitter.com/M3bZiLLryQ

$4.3 billion of market value was erased the day of the crash.

The company said it was ready to help with any investigations as needed, and sent sympathies to families.

According to Reuters, the embassy said the earlier statement was based on preliminary information but was not official, and that Iranian authorities had asked the embassy to remove it.

Ali Abedzadeh, the head of Iran's civil aviation authority, told semi-official news agency Mehr that Iran would not give the black box to Boeing, according to Reuters.

The confusing statements from Iran, as well as the airline's belief in its crew's experience, helped fuel suspicion.

It said the plane was on fire and turned back in the direction of the airport before it crashed, and that the pilots did not send any crisis communication.

It said the flight suffered an unnamed technical issue after takeoff.

The secretary of Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council said Ukraine is also considering if the plane was destroyed by an anti-aircraft missile, brought down in a terror attack, or collided with an object in the sky.

Ukraine did not dispute Iran's idea that the plane was brought down by a technical issue, but said it wanted to explore all options and cited unconfirmed reports of debris from a Russian missile.

US officials told Newsweek, Reuters, and other outlets that the incident was likely an accident, as Iran's anti-aircraft systems were likely on high alert at the time of the crash, poised for a US retaliation following the Iranian attacks on US bases.

These reports were then confirmed by other outlets.

Fars News Agency reported that an Iranian aviation official said it would be "scientifically impossible" because the plane was flying at 8,000 feet.

But that 8,000 feet is within the range of the 29 Tor M1 missile defense batteries that Iran bought from Russia in 2005.

Trudeau said that "Canadian expertise when it comes to air tragedies" is "world-class."

"We have lots to contribute, and we have lost much," he said of the 63 Canadians killed in the crash, many of whom were in transit back to Canada from Iran.

"I have my suspicions. I don't want to say that because other people have their suspicions also," he told reporters Thursday afternoon.

"Some people say it was mechanical. I personally don't think that's even a question."

The video had been circulating on social media, and the Times said the video appeared to show the missile hitting the plane at the location the signal from the plane's transponder was last received, and that there was a small explosion but the plane remained flying for several minutes.

This is consistent with Iran's report on Thursday, which said the plane had turned back to the airport before crashing.

"There is now a body of information that the flight was shot down by an Iranian Surface to Air Missile. This may well have been unintentional."

He also said there were four UK citizens on board, rather than just the three first identified by Iran's foreign minister.

With intelligence reports suggesting the plane was hit by a missile, the idea that the crash was down to a technical issue with the plane was weakened, and Boeing's possible culpability lessened.

Boeing stock traded as much as 3% higher on Thursday.

Images and reports from the crash site show at least one bulldozer working in the debris at the site.

Government spokesman Ali Rabiei called the idea Iran downed the plane a "big lie."

"It is unfortunate that the psychological operation of the US government, and those supporting it knowingly and unknowingly, are adding insult to the injury of the bereaved families and victimizing them for certain goals by propagating such fallacies," he said.

Ali Abedzadeh, the head of Iran's civil aviation organization, also said on Friday than could say with "certainty that no missile has hit this airplane."

And Hesameddin Ashena, an adviser to Iran's president, said on Friday that Persian-language media had been "warned" against repeating the "psychological warfare" Iran said was being carried out by Western nations.

A government spokesman said Boeing could send a representative "to participate in the procedure of examining the black box."

These countries had signaled their willingness to join, but Iran had not previously confirmed their involvement.

Iran also said that it wants to look at the plane's black boxes itself, but was willing to send them to another country for analysis if it faces technical problems in doing so.

Abedzadeh said in a press conference on Friday afternoon: 'If we can do it ourselves, we will."

"If not, we will definitely ask for assistance from other countries," he said.

Iran has noted some damage to the boxes that may make examination more difficult, and said that extracting the data could take a month or two.

The European Commission has called for an "independent and credible" probe into the Iran crash.

CBS News reported that "apparent scavengers" were going through the debris before Ukrainian investigators arrived.

The network's foreign correspondent Elizabeth Palmer said there was "no security."

CNN cited eyewitnesses who said the large debris pieces have been removed, and experts told the outlet that this was very unusual in such an early phase of the investigation.

News agency TASS reported that Sergei Ryabkov said that: "There is no basis to come out with explosive statements at this stage, I'm strongly convinced that trying to score political points based on this terrible human tragedy is unacceptable."

He was responding to Trudeau's statements.

"The experts need to analyze the situation and make their conclusions, so starting such games is at the very least undignified," Ryabkov said.

"There is no basis, I'm sure of it, to make loud statements of this kind at this stage."