Iran CAO chief's position on the new information about the shoot-down from a CNN interview:
The head of Iran's Civil Aviation Authority is questioning the US allegation.Speaking to CNN, Ali Abedzadeh said, "if a rocket or missile hits a plane, it will free fall."
Abedzadeh asked, "How can a plane be hit by rocket or missile" and then the pilot "try to turn back to the airport?"
He also told CNN the plane's black boxes are damaged and Iran may need help decoding them.
"Generally speaking, Iran has the potential and know-how to decode the black box. Everybody knows that," Abedzadeh said.
However, he also added that, "the black box of this very Ukrainian Boeing 737 is damaged. Ukrainian Aviation experts arrived here in Tehran today. We had a session with them. From tomorrow they will start decoding the data."
"If the available equipment is not enough to get the content" Iran will outsource the boxes to "the experts from France or Canada," Abedzadeh said.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-51055219