BEIRUT, Lebanon — A passenger plane bound for Armenia from Iran crashed Wednesday morning in northwest Iran, and all 168 people aboard were believed to have perished, Iranian state media reported.The Russian-made Tupolev plane crashed near the city of Qazvin at about 11:30 local time after leaving Tehran on a flight to Yerevan, the Armenian capital, Hussein Behzadpour, the police chief of Qazvin, said in comments quoted by Iran’s English language Press TV. The crash site was near Jannatabad, a village just outside Qazvin, Mr. Behzadpour said.

The spokesman of Iran’s Aviation Organization, Reza Jafarzadeh, told Press TV that the plane, Caspian Airlines flight 7908, crashed 16 minutes after taking off from Tehran’s Imam Khomeini Airport.

The plane was carrying 153 passengers and 15 crew, state television reported. The broadcast showed wreckage mingled with human body parts and a fire brigade official was quoted as saying the debris was strewn over a broad area.

The footage showed a crater gouged into farmland with mangled pieces of metal scattered about, Reuters reported.

News reports said the pilot may have been attempting an emergency landing after technical problems occurred.

The Associated Press quoted a spokesman for the airline in Yeravan as saying most of the passengers were Armenians but that some Georgians also were on board the plane. Caspian Airlines is Russian-Iranian joint venture founded in 1993, The A.P. said.