U.S. intelligence says missile likely brought down passenger plane in Iran

BARDARASH, Iraq – NBC News is reporting a major development on what’s to blame for a passenger jet tragedy in Iran.

Officials are telling NBC News that now the evidence suggests, to U.S. officials, that a Ukrainian jetliner that went down in Tehran with 176 people on board was shot down, mistakenly it is presumed, by Iranian forces who are on pins and needles and very worried about a U.S. counterattack after they had just fired missiles at U.S. bases in Iraq.

Iran still insists it was not a missile attack and it was a mechanical issue. But U.S. aviation sources have told NBC News for the last 24-36 hours that all of the evidence they see suggests that it was, in fact, a missile strike.

U.S. intelligence sources say the same thing.