(Montreal) Canada, the United Kingdom, Sweden and Ukraine on Wednesday condemned Tehran’s refusal to negotiate compensation to the families of victims of a flight PS752 shot down by an Iranian missile nearly two years ago.
“We, the Ministers representing Canada, the United Kingdom, Sweden and Ukraine, express our deepest disappointment at the non-acceptance of our multiple requests for a meeting of the Islamic Republic of Iran 22. November 2021”, we read in a joint statement issued by the four countries.
On January 8, 2020, a Boeing operating Ukraine International Airlines (UIA) PS752 flight between Tehran and Kiev was shot down shortly after takeoff by Iranian armed forces.
Iran did not accept the facts until three days later, saying it had “accidentally” shot down the plane.
The crash killed 176 people on board, including 55 Canadians and 30 permanent residents.
“We urge the Islamic Republic of Iran to fulfill its international legal obligation to provide full compensation to the group of countries concerned, and therefore reiterate our call to negotiate in good faith and to do so. By the end of this year,” the international group urged.
On Friday, the new Canadian Foreign Minister, Melanie Jolie, met with her British counterpart to discuss Canada’s and the United Kingdom’s commitment to “seeking justice by holding Iran accountable”.
Photo by Oliver Dolieri, Archives Associated Press
Minister of Foreign Affairs, Melanie Jolie
The international group said that if Iran continued to negotiate with it, “there is no other way but to seriously consider other measures and measures to resolve this issue.”
The trial of ten soldiers in the case began Sunday in Tehran.
On the night of the tragedy, Iran’s air defense was on high alert. In the wake of an Islamic strike in Baghdad, the Islamic Republic’s base used by the US military in Iraq in response to the annihilation five days ago, General Qassem Suleiman, the architect of Iran’s regional strategy, attacked and Tehran sought a response from Washington.
In its final report on the tragedy, which was revealed in March, the Iranian Civil Aviation Organization (CAO) laundered its armed forces. Ukraine then condemned the report as an “aversion attempt to hide the real reasons” and Ottawa a report without “incomplete” and “tough evidence”.
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