Rabiee: Coronavirus Was the Reason for Delay in Sending Ukraine Plane Black Box

Iran’s government spokesperson attributed the delay in sending the black box of the Ukrainian plane shot down by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to “the coronavirus crisis and flight delays.” Ali Rabiee said there is “nothing hidden” and the black box will be sent to Ukraine.

Ali Rabiee, Iran’s government spokesperson, reiterated on Monday, June 15, 2020 (26 Khordad) during his press conference in Tehran that the black box of the Ukrainian passenger aircraft will be sent to Ukraine for further examination by experts. Iranian officials had announced days earlier that they would send the black box to France.

When asked about the reasons for Iran’s repeated delays in sending the black box, the government spokesperson responded that the decision to send the black box abroad has been made and the black box will be sent to that country “with Iranian representatives at the earliest opportunity.”

Rabiee said: “If the possibility of reading the data in Ukraine is provided based on the Ukrainian side’s claims, this will be done there. Otherwise, given the long history of the French institute which is also approved by ICAO, the black box will be read in France.”

It is expected that the black boxes will contain information related to the final moments before the plane was hit and crashed.

Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 was shot down in the early morning of January 8, 2020, shortly after departing Tehran airport for Kyiv, and became the target of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps air defense missiles.

This incident occurred after the Islamic Republic’s retaliatory missile attack on American military bases in Iraq on January 8.

All 176 passengers and crew on board were killed. The majority of passengers were Iranians, but among them were dozens of citizens from Canada, Ukraine, Sweden, Afghanistan, and Britain.

“The reason for the delay is coronavirus”

Rabiee emphasized the global spread of coronavirus and the cancellation of international flights and recalled that Iran’s decision to send the black box of the Ukrainian passenger aircraft was made before the outbreak of this virus. Rabiee said that coronavirus caused an “unwanted delay in this process.”

The government spokesperson expressed hope: “With the gradual reopening of international flights and as the results of discussions between the country’s aviation organization and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs with their counterparts in five interested countries become clear, we will resume this process.”

Rabiee added that Iran seeks to “clarify the dimensions of this incident, reach an agreement on the amount of compensation and its payment.” The government spokesperson then claimed that the Islamic Republic “announced its readiness to examine the black box from the first days.” He said: “There was nothing on our part to cover up.”

From the first minutes of the Ukrainian plane being shot down, the Islamic Republic did not demonstrate a transparent approach and senior Islamic Republic officials have repeatedly contradicted themselves. Iran’s contradictory reactions raised suspicion that Islamic Republic officials may have intended to conceal some facts related to the plane crash.

“The measure is the actions and not just the words of officials”

After the Ukrainian plane was shot down, for three days Iranian officials claimed the cause was a technical malfunction, but with the publication of a video of the moment of missile impact and its verification by The New York Times, the incident gained global attention to the extent that Iranian officials were forced to admit to shooting down the commercial aircraft.

Many foreign passengers on the downed plane were Canadian citizens. Ottawa has been requesting for months that Iran send the black box abroad for examination and analysis since Iran does not have the necessary technical equipment to decrypt it.

In March, about three months ago, after Tehran announced its readiness to transfer the black box of the downed Ukrainian aircraft to France or Ukraine, François-Philippe Champagne, Canada’s Foreign Minister, called it “a step in the right direction” and welcomed it.

Canada’s Foreign Minister, however, simultaneously pointed out that the measure for judging Iranian officials will be “their practical action and not just their words.”

Source: DW