TEHRAN, Iran — It is too early to speculate the reasons why a Boeing 737 carrying 167 passengers and nine crewmembers that crashed near an airport in Tehran, stated officials.

The Ukraine International Airlines plane, bound for Kiev, went down shortly after take-off Wednesday morning.

All those on board were killed.

At one point on the Ukraine's embassy website stated that it has ruled out a terror or rocket attack, however, in a new statement the embassy confirmed, "Information on the causes of the plane crash is being clarified by the commission. Any statements regarding the causes of the accident prior to the decision of said commission are not official."

During a news conference, Prime Minister of Ukraine Oleksiy Honcharuk said it was too early to speculate the cause of the crash and that Ukraine has asked to join the Iranian-led investigation.

Iran's semi-official news agency reports the crash was due to technical difficulties.

In addition, Iran has refused to give flight data records to either Boeing or the U.S.

This all comes on the heels of Iran's ballistic missile attack on Iraqi air bases that house U.S. and coalition troops.

 

 

2 Quakes Strike Iran

Iran was struck by two earthquakes early Wednesday morning, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

 

One quake was 4.9 and it struck at 2:20 a.m. UTC and the second quake hit at 3:19 a.m. UTC and it registered as a 4.5.

Media reports say the quakes hit near an Iranian nuclear power plant.