A Ukrainian passenger plane carrying 176 people has crashed and burst into flames shortly after taking off in Iran’s capital, Tehran.
There are no survivors, Iranian state television reported after the aircraft came down in the early hours of Wednesday.
It was not immediately clear whether the incident near the city’s primary international airport is linked to the Iran-US confrontation.
The crash came hours after Iran launched a ballistic missile attack targeting two bases in Iraq housing US forces in retaliation for the killing of top commander Qassem Soleimani.
Authorities initially blamed a mechanical problem for the crash.
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said all passengers and crew on board the airliner had been killed, citing preliminary information.
According to initial reports, there were 167 passengers and nine crew members on board at the time of the crash.
In a statement, Zelenskiy said Ukraine was trying to establish the circumstances of the crash and the death toll.
An investigation team was at the site, civil aviation spokesman Reza Jafarzadeh said.
Flight data from the airport showed a 737-800 flown by Ukraine International Airlines stopped sending data almost immediately after taking off.
The airline did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
