Iran’s ambassador to the UK called claims that his country quickly cleared debris from the Ukrainian airliner crash site f “absolutely absurd” on Friday — despite images showing front loaders there scooping up plane parts that could be vital clues.

Front loaders were photographed hauling what appeared to be wreckage, raising fears that they were destroying or removing parts that could shed light on what took down Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 in Tehran on Wednesday, killing all 176 people aboard.

The images were verified by UK investigative Web site Bellingcat, whose work linked downed Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 to Russia in 2014, according to the UK’s Sun.

“I found them to be really distressing because this is potentially the scene of a crime,” Bellingcat investigator Giancarlo Fiorella told Britain’s Channel 4 News. “If this was a shoot-down event, you don’t want to disturb the crash site before a thorough investigation can be conducted.”

But Ambassador Hamid Baeidinejad told Sky News: “Plane accidents are a very technical issue.

“I cannot judge, you cannot judge, reporters on the ground cannot judge. Nobody can judge. A foreign minister or a prime minister cannot judge on this issue,” he said as he reiterated Tehran’s rejection of suggestions that it mistakenly shot down the Boeing 737-800 with a missile.

There were earlier reports of people looting parts of the wreckage and possibly compromising the investigation.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Vadym Prystaiko later told CNN that the plane was being reconstructed in a hangar in Iran.

“Ukrainian investigators were missing particular things of the plane. Most of these are in our possession now in a special hangar given to our team where the plane is being reconstructed as we speak,” he said.

He added that at Ukraine’s insistence, local police had cleared the crash site of locals and that “at least we have remnants of people and the plane respected.”

Meanwhile on Friday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo became the highest-level US official to directly blame Iran for the crash after Canadian, Australian and British leaders announced similar conclusions.

“We do believe it is likely that that plane was shot down by an Iranian missile,” Pompeo said, adding that once the probe was complete he was “confident that we and the world will take appropriate action as a response.”

Pompeo spoke with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky by phone Friday and offered his condolences for the Ukrainian lives lost and “full assistance in the ongoing investigation.”

Zelensky’s office said that the Ukrainian leader briefed Pompeo on the probe’s progress, and that they agreed Pompeo would visit Ukraine late this month.

On Facebook, Zelensky wrote that he had not ruled out the possibility that the plane was downed by a missile, “but it has not been confirmed yet.”

“We call on all international partners, especially the governments of the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom, to provide data and evidence relating to the disaster to the commission investigating the causes,” Zelensky wrote.

Ivan Bakanov, head of Ukraine’s Security Service, said his agency was “reviewing” a missile hit, or a terror attack, as possible explanations for the crash but urged everyone not to “jump into hasty conclusions.”

“It’s enough to open the manual for a surface-to-air missile system to raise a number of questions that need further answers,” he said in a statement.

Meanwhile, the Trump administration plans to grant sanctions waivers to allow US companies, such as Boeing, or others to take part in the investigation, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said at a briefing with Pompeo.

Earlier Friday, Tehran again denied allegations that one of its missiles downed the jetliner, which crashed hours after Iran fired 22 missiles at two bases in Iraq housing US troops to avenge the Jan. 3 killing of Quds Force leader Qassem Soleimani.

“What is obvious for us, and what we can say with certainty, is that no missile hit the plane,” said Ali Abedzadeh, head of Iran’s Civil Aviation Organization.

“If they are really sure, they should come and show their findings to the world,” he said, claiming the missile theory was not “scientifically correct” because a jet could not be hit and “continue flying for 60 to 70 seconds.”