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DEIran has rejected the ultimatum and refused to negotiate with the International Coordination and Response Group for the victims of Flight PS752 to pay compensation for the downing of a Ukraine International Airlines (UIA) passenger plane near Tehran in 2020.
This is stated in a joint statement by the Foreign Ministers of Canada, Sweden, Ukraine, and the United Kingdom.
“The Coordination Group asked Iran to commit to engaging in negotiations with the Group by 5 January 2022. Unfortunately, on 27 December 2021, we received an unequivocal response from Iran that it does not see a need to negotiate with the Group,” the document reads.
At the same time, it is noted that in July 2020, Iran agreed to negotiations with a group of countries whose citizens were killed in the plane crash.
The Coordination Group has determined that further attempts to negotiate with Iran on reparations for the destruction of Flight PS752 are futile; so in the future this issue will be resolved “in accordance with international law.”
The Group also expressed unity in its commitment to hold Iran accountable “for the actions and omissions of its civil and military officials that led to the illegal downing of Flight PS752 by ensuring that Iran makes full reparations for its breaches of international law.”
The Ontario Superior Court of Justice recently awarded CAD 107 million (about USD 90 million), plus interest, to the families of six people who died in the UIA plane crash.
The decision was based on a May court ruling that the downing of Flight PS752 was an intentional act of terrorism. A lawyer for the families of the victims then said he would seek the seizure of Iranian state assets in Canada and abroad if Tehran refused to voluntarily comply with the court’s ruling.
As a reminder, on 8 January 2020, the Ukraine International Airlines plane (Flight PS752) heading from Tehran to Kyiv crashed shortly after taking off from the Imam Khomeini International Airport. There were 167 passengers and nine crew members on board. All of them died. There were 11 Ukrainians among the victims of the plane crash.
Initially, the Iranian authorities did not recognise the fact of the downing, but after a while they confirmed that the plane had been accidentally shot down by the country’s air forces.
Bohdan Marusyak
