Photos reportedly show part of missile that downed Ukrainian plane over Iran

Ns News Online Desk:  Images have surfaced online purporting to show the “seeker head” from an Iranian missile that brought down a Ukrainian airliner –- the latest piece of a puzzle in the probe of the disaster that killed 176 people.The unverified photo was claimed to show a remnant of a Russian-built Tor-M1 surface-to-air missile of the kind used by Iranian forces, according to the Guardian.

The Boeing 737-800 crashed moment after takeoff from Tehran’s airport en route to the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv. Iranian officials have cited technical difficulties as a cause of the crash, saying the crew made no distress calls as they tried to return to the airport before the plane went down.

But US and other Western officials said the plane appeared to have been unintentionally struck by a missile just hours after Iran launched 22 ballistic missiles at two bases housing US troops in Iraq to avenge the killing of its top general in an American airstrike last week. The images posted on Twitter by Iranian accounts showed a charred green section of what appeared to be a rocket’s nose-cone lying in front of a home in the city of Parand, about 37 miles from Tehran, the Daily Mail reported. “This is a piece found at the crash site of a Ukrainian passenger plane that fell in front of a resident’s home. Does the airplane have anything like this? Isn’t it a rocket?” Ashkan Monfared wrote in social media.

The crash site sits less than two miles from the Parandak garrison, home to the 23rd Takavar Division of the Islamic Republic of Iran Army, the news outlet reported.