Reports: US officials believe Ukraine plane crash caused by Iranian missiles

US officials believe that Iranian missiles caused the crash of a Ukraine airliner on Wednesday morning which led to deaths of all 176 people on board, multiple outlets reported on Thursday.

One US official told Reuters that US satellites had detected the launch of two missiles shortly before the plane crashed, followed by evidence of an explosion. Two officials also said Washington believes the downing of the plane was accidental.

UK sources told the Guardian that the Britain had seen US intelligence suggesting that the plane had been hit by an Iranian air defence missile.

While unverified photos and reports mounted suspicions on Thursday that the plane was brought down by something other than technical difficulty, investigators told Middle East Eye they remained cautious of the latest reports citing anonymous western officials.

Nick Waters, a senior investigator at Bellingcat, told MEE he "would wait for official confirmation and, above all, I would want to see data that I can verify."