Ukrainian plane downed; four-nation deadline for Iran
Ukraine, Britain, Sweden and Canada gave Iran until January 5 to pay compensation for the downing of the Ukrainian plane. They threatened to resort to legal action against Iran if it did not.
On Thursday, December 16, Reuters reported that countries whose citizens were affected by the disaster of the downing of a Ukrainian airliner near Tehran have set a deadline for the Islamic Republic.
According to the report, Ukraine, Britain, Sweden, and Canada, which have formed a coordination group to handle this case, have said that if Iran does not take action regarding the payment of compensation by January 5th, they will take serious steps against the country within the framework of international law.
Ukrainian passenger plane Flight 752 was shot down shortly after takeoff from Tehran airport on January 8, 2020, after being hit by two missiles from the Revolutionary Guard Corps. All 176 people on board, including 85 Canadian citizens and permanent residents, were killed.
Since then, Iranian authorities have refused to accept responsibility for this disaster and have been avoiding reaching an understanding with the relatives of the victims and the countries involved in this case under various pretexts.
In the latest move, the Islamic Republic's Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement on December 29, claiming that in three rounds of bilateral negotiations between representatives of Iran and Ukraine in August 2020, September 2020, and June 2021, "all technical, military, legal, criminal, and payment aspects were addressed in detail and in line with international obligations and even beyond."
The patience of the opposing parties is over.
“The patience of the Coordination Group has run out,” said a statement issued Thursday by Ukraine, Britain, Sweden and Canada, which said it had been pressuring Tehran to start talks on compensation and justice but had not yet received a satisfactory response.
The families of the victims of the disaster have concluded that the Islamic Republic deliberately tried to shoot down the passenger plane.
After intense multilateral pressure, a trial has been held in Tehran to investigate responsibility for the killing of 176 people, in which 10 low-ranking officers are being tried.
Hamed Esmailiyon, a spokesman for the Association of Families of Victims of the Missile Attack on the Ukrainian Plane, called the trial a “shameful spectacle” in a tweet, writing: “The dock will await the main actors: Ali Khamenei, the commanders of the IRGC, and members of the Supreme National Security Council. It will not be far.”
Source: DW
