According to a report cited by the Independent, analysts should start from the assumption that the plane, which had 176 people on board, none of whom survived, crashed as the result of a "shootdown." While others insisted that it's still too early to jump to conclusions, the OPS group, an aviation risk monitoring group, said photos from the crash site clearly show projectile holes in the plane's fuselage and wing.

"We would recommend the starting assumption to be that this was a shootdown event, similar to MH17 – until there is clear evidence to the contrary," highlighting photos of the crash site which they said "show obvious projectile holes in the fuselage and a wing section."

The Boeing Co. 737-800 single-aisle jet crashed two minutes after takeoff from Tehran's Imam Khomeini International Airport while en route to Kiev.

Photos of the crash site showing thousands of pieces of scattered and charred debris.

And if there was any time for Iran's defense system to misfire, doesn't it seem more likely that the system would be accidentally triggered immediately after takeoff?