Despite repeated pressure from Ukraine and other countries whose citizens died in the downing of Ukraine International Airlines flight PS752, Iran is once again delaying delivering the plane’s black boxes to France.
Just over two weeks ago, Iran’s foreign ministry promised that it was ready to send the black boxes “in the coming days.” Tehran has promised to send the flight recorders to France since early in the investigation.
“The black boxes have not yet been sent to France. Today we have another promise from the Iranian side to do so on July 20,” Ukrainian Deputy Foreigner Minister Yevhen Yenin told the Ukraine 24 television channel. “A couple of days ago we received the consent of the French authorities to receive our two experts who will take part in the process as members of the technical investigation team.”
“The parties affected by the disaster have finally agreed on their positions and approaches in the negotiations with the Iranian side on bringing Iran to justice and compensating the relatives of the victims,” he added. “In addition, the Ukrainian side aims to obtain compensation for Ukraine International Airlines as well.”
Iran’s recent delay comes after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky threatened the country with an international tribunal in an interview with the Canadian publication The Globe and Mail back in June.
The President expressed concern that the country was avoiding confronting its responsibilities to the victims of the crash and said that repeated delays are not appropriate after Ukraine and other governments who lost their citizens in the catastrophe have waited for months.
On the morning of Jan. 8, flight PS752 took off from Imam Khomeini International Airport in Tehran, destined for Kyiv. Several minutes after takeoff, it crashed just 20 kilometers from its point of departure, killing all 176 passengers and crew on board.
After initially blaming engine issues for the crash, Iran admitted to shooting down the plane with an SA-15 or Tor air-defense system after multiple media outlets reported that the plane had been shot down.
Read more: How Ukrainian plane crash went from ‘engine failure’ to ‘Iranian attack’
Ukraine lost 11 citizens in the crash. The rest of the victims were from the following countries: Iran – 82, Canada – 63, Sweden – 10, Afghanistan – 4, Germany – 3, United Kingdom – 3.
Read more: Names of passengers, crew on board Ukrainian plane that crashed in Iran
