Iran dithering on crash probe, says Ukraine airline

Relatives and colleagues of the 11 Ukrainians who died in a plane mistakenly shot down by Iran lay flowers during a ceremony. (File/AFP)
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  • Tehran has admitted its anti-air missiles brought down the plane by mistake on January 8 last year
  • We haven鈥檛 got an answer to the main question: how could this happen and who is responsible: UIA chief

KIEV: Iranian investigators probing the downing of a passenger plane a year ago are deliberately dragging their feet, Ukraine International Airlines (UIA) said on Wednesday.
Tehran has admitted its anti-air missiles brought down the plane by mistake on January 8 last year during heightened tension with the US, killing all 176 passengers and crew, including 55 Canadians.
鈥淲e haven鈥檛 got an answer to the main question: how could this happen and who is responsible,鈥� UIA chief Yevhenii Dykhne told AFP, saying 鈥渢he process isn鈥檛 moving.鈥�
鈥淭he tactic on the Iranian side is to sweep under the rug, to drag their feet,鈥� he said.
鈥淭here needs to be more serious pressure from those countries whose citizens died.鈥�
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau last month called on Iran to answer questions about the downed plane after an independent Canadian report complained that Iran was 鈥渋nvestigating itself, largely in secret.鈥�
The report said Iran鈥檚 probe suffered 鈥渙bvious conflicts of interest... with few safeguards to ensure independence, impartiality or legitimacy.鈥�
Ukraine officials confirmed this week they had received on December 31 a preliminary 鈥渢echnical report鈥� from Iran on the circumstances of the disaster.
They now have two months to review the document and decide if they are satisfied.
Iran鈥檚 Revolutionary Guards on Wednesday blamed the 鈥渂itter event鈥� on 鈥渢he inhuman adventurism of the United States and its terrorist actions in the region.鈥�
The disaster came as Iranian forces were on high alert after the US assassination of revered Iranian military commander Qasem Soleimani in neighboring Iraq and a retaliatory Iranian rocket attack on US bases there.
In a statement, the Guards 鈥� seen as Iran鈥檚 ideological army 鈥� called the deaths 鈥渧ery difficult and sad for everybody.鈥�
But they said the event 鈥減roved once again that the global arrogance (the US) has reached the height of vice and resentment against the Islamic Republic and the people of Iran.鈥�
Tehran has offered to give $150,000 to the families of each of the victims.
But airline boss Dykhne joined widespread criticism of the offer, dismissing it as a 鈥渕edia strategy just designed to test our reaction.鈥�
Iran鈥檚 government has not made an official proposal for payouts, he added, arguing that 鈥渋nternational precedents鈥� should be used to set the level of compensation.
In 1996, Washington agreed to pay a total of $61.8 million to the families of 290 people killed in an Iran Air plane shot down by a US warship in 1988.
And after its 2003 admission of responsibility for the 1988 Lockerbie bombing of a US-bound passenger plane, Libya paid $2.7 billion to the families of the 270 people killed.
Whatever the amounts, payouts should only follow technical and criminal inquiries into the deaths and a determination whether the shooting down of the plane was due to human error or a planned 鈥渕ilitary鈥� act, Dykhne said.