TEHRAN: Iran's state media say authorities have invited Boeing to take part in the investigation into a Ukrainian jetliner that crashed, killing all 176 people on board.
The move came after Western leaders said the plane appeared to have been unintentionally hit by a missile amid soaring tensions between Washington and Tehran, something Iran denies.
The state-run IRNA news agency quoted a foreign ministry spokesman on Friday as saying Iran "has invited both Ukraine and the Boeing company to participate in the investigations.”
The spokesman, Abbas Mousavi, says it will also welcome experts from other countries' whose citizens died in the crash.
Meanwhile, the Iranian ambassador to the UK denied on Friday reports that Iran had bulldozed the crash site.
Hamid Baeidinejad, who tweeted an excerpt from a Sky News report, said such reports were "absolutely absurd".