Canadian PM says Iranian missile brought down airliner
Ottawa: Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Thursday "multiple" intelligence sources indicate that Iran shot down a Ukrainian airliner after it took off from Tehran, killing all 176 on board, including 63 Canadians.
Trudeau's comments came as images posted on social media increasingly pointed to a catastrophic mistake by Tehran's air defense batteries bringing the down Ukraine International Airlines Flight PS752 in flames Wednesday.
Citing information from allies as well as Canada's own intelligence, the prime minister said the plane appeared to have been hit by an Iranian surface-to-air (SAM) missile. "We know this may have been unintentional. Canadians have questions, and they deserve answers," Trudeau told reporters.
The prime minister was backed by other Western leaders, including British Prime Minister Boris Johnson who said mounting evidence supported a missile strike, which "may well have been unintentional." US President Donald Trump indicated that Washington officials believed the Kiev-bound Boeing 737 was struck by one or more Iranian missiles before it ditched and exploded outside Tehran.
Flight PS752 went down just minutes after takeoff from Tehran airport in the dark early Wednesday, with no radio message from the pilot to indicate distress, according to the Iranian Civil Aviation Organization.
It was carrying 82 Iranians, 63 Canadians, 11 Ukrainians, 10 Swedes, four Afghans, three Germans and three Britons. The disaster unfolded amid worries of a possible war between the United States and Iran, just hours after Tehran launched ballistic missiles at American military targets in Iraq in retaliation for the January 3 US drone strike in Baghdad that killed a top Iranian general.
The Iranian government said the missile strike scenario made "no sense," however, arguing that several internal and international flights had been sharing approximately the same airspace.
Tehran later asked Ottawa to share its information with Iranian investigators. Trudeau said Canada was working with allies to ensure a credible probe takes place. "The families of the victims want answers, Canadians want answers, I want answers," he said. "That means closure, transparency, accountability, and justice. This government will not rest until we get that." Johnson called Thursday for a full, transparent investigation.
"It is vital that there should be an immediate and respectful repatriation of those who've lost their lives to allow their families to grieve properly," the British leader said. "The UK continues to call on all sides urgently to deescalate to reduce tensions in the region." Trump would not directly confirm what US intelligence was saying privately.
"I have my suspicions," Trump said. "It was flying in a pretty rough neighborhood and somebody could have made a mistake." "Some people say it was mechanical. I personally don't think that's even a question," he said, adding that "something very terrible happened." But unnamed officials told US media satellite, radar and electronic data indicated Tehran's air defense units downed the aircraft.
ABC News reported that an unnamed official said it was "highly likely" the plane was brought down by two SAMs. Ukraine called for United Nations support for a broad investigation, and sent 45 crash investigators to Tehran to take part in the inquiry led by Iranian authorities.
Investigators are pursuing several possibilities, including engine failure, a missile strike or an act of terror. "If any country has information that can help conduct a transparent and objective investigation into the tragedy, we are ready to receive it and cooperate in further verification," the Ukraine presidency said in an English-language statement.
Ali Abedzadeh, head of Iran's civil aviation organization and deputy transport minister, said Iran and Ukraine were "downloading information" from the aircraft's black boxes retrieved from the crash site. But if more specialized work is required to extract and analyze the data, we can do it in France or another country," he said.
Analysts were examining photographs posted online of the wreckage and a private video apparently taken of the flight when it was struck for evidence that it was downed by a missile. The New York Times said it had verified the video showing a small explosion apparently when a missile struck the aircraft.
"I think this has a very good possibility of being accurate," John Goglia, a former US aviation safety expert on the National Transportation Safety Board, said of the missile theory. "Airplanes that have just taken off and have made a climb to 8,000 feet, that's entering the safest period of time in the flight. So even an engine failure at that altitude should not cause the type of event we've just observed," he told AFP.
The Ukrainian airline crash brought back memories of another tragedy involving a US military error. In 1988, an Iran Air flight was shot down over the Gulf by a surface-to-air missile fired from the US warship USS Vincennes. All 290 people aboard, most of them Iranians, were killed, sparking outrage across the country.
The US Navy had mistaken the aircraft for an Iranian fighter jet.
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KERC increases electricity tariffs for commercial, industrial consumers
Bengaluru (PTI): The Karnataka Electricity Regulatory Commission has reduced electricity tariffs for agricultural pump sets for 2025–26 from the earlier uniform rate of Rs 8.30 per unit to a range of Rs 6.57 to Rs 7.79 per unit across the state.
However, the Commission has increased tariffs for select commercial and industrial consumers by 10 paise to a maximum of 95 paise per unit.
As per the Commission’s order, the revised tariffs are as follows: LT-3a (low-tension commercial) consumers will pay a fixed charge of Rs 235 per kW and an energy charge of Rs 7.10 per unit, while LT-5 (industrial) consumers will be charged Rs 165 per HP as fixed charges and Rs 5.20 per unit as energy charges.
In the high-tension segment, HT-2a (industrial) consumers will pay a demand charge of Rs 365 per kVA and an energy charge of Rs 6.70 per unit, while HT-2b (commercial) consumers will pay Rs 390 per kVA as demand charges and Rs 6.90 per unit as energy charges.
The revised tariffs were notified in an order issued on March 3 after the Commission allowed a review petition filed by five state-run electricity supply companies—Bangalore Electricity Supply Company, Mangalore Electricity Supply Company, Chamundeshwari Electricity Supply Corporation, Hubli Electricity Supply Company and Gulbarga Electricity Supply Company.
The order, however, does not specify the date from which the revised tariffs will come into effect.
In its earlier tariff order dated March 27, 2025, the Commission had fixed the LT-4a tariff uniformly at Rs 8.30 per unit across all ESCOMs.
Consumers in the LT-4a category — primarily agricultural pump set users — are provided free power supply, with the state government reimbursing the cost through subsidies.
According to the order, the petitioners informed the Commission that despite the Government of Karnataka allocating Rs 16,021 crore towards subsidies for free power supply to LT-4a consumers, the ESCOMs would not be able to fully recover the cost of electricity supplied under the earlier tariff structure.
The Commission noted that this would leave distribution companies with no option but to demand payment of the balance amount from farmers, leading to “unexpected and undue hardship” for the agricultural community, which it described as the backbone of the state’s agricultural production.
The reduction in the LT-4a tariff would, however, result in a revenue shortfall of Rs 2,362.47 crore compared to the tariffs considered in the order under review.
Observing that it was necessary to safeguard farmers’ interests while ensuring that ESCOMs reasonably recover costs, the Commission said the review petition could be allowed under the provisions of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908.
The petitioners informed the Commission that the Government of Karnataka has allocated an additional Rs 2,362.47 crore, supplementing the existing budgetary provision of Rs 16,021 crore, recognising that the entire financial burden should not be passed on to consumers and must be partially borne by the government.
The petitioners further stated that they will mobilise Rs 1,107.60 crore through miscellaneous revenue.
“The balance shortfall to be met by increasing tariffs for industrial and commercial consumers, amounting to Rs 1,254.88 crore, appears reasonable and justifiable,” the Commission added.
