Canada, Sweden Pave Way for Compensation Talks with Iran on Downed Plane

Canada announced Thursday an agreement to launch negotiations with Iran on compensation for the families of the foreign victims of a Ukrainian passenger plane shot down in January, with Sweden expressing confidence Tehran would pay.

An international "coordination and response group" of countries whose nationals died on the plane signed a memorandum of understanding, formally paving the way for negotiations with Tehran, according to a Canadian government statement.

The countries—Canada, Britain, Ukraine, Sweden and Afghanistan—each had citizens die when Tehran's armed forces mistakenly shot down Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752.

"The five states created the legal structure necessary to start these negotiations," Canadian Foreign Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne told AFP.

"It is a first step—necessary but only a first step—to begin negotiations to obtain reparations for the victims' families," he said.

Earlier in the day, Sweden's Foreign Minister Ann Linde told news agency TT that Tehran had agreed to compensate the families of foreign victims.

There is "no doubt" that Iran would follow through on the compensation, she said, adding that it was still unclear what sums would be paid out.

"We have signed an agreement of mutual understanding that we will now negotiate with Iran about amends, compensation to the victims' next of kin," Linde said.

Ukraine, the group's designated speaker on the negotiations, will be responsible for proposing a date to launch the talks in Tehran, Champagne said.

"These kinds of negotiations generally take several months or even years," added Champagne, whose country chairs the coordinated group.

"Iran had indicated to us its desire to start negotiations. I always judge Iran not by its words but by its actions," he warned.

The 176 victims of the crash, which occurred shortly after taking off from Tehran airport on January 8, were mostly Iranian-Canadians.

Of countries apart from Iran, Canada was the hardest hit, with a total of 85 victims (both citizens and permanent residents).

The Islamic Republic admitted days after the downing that its forces accidentally shot the Kiev-bound jetliner.

At the end of June Iran officially enlisted the help of France's BEA air accident agency to download and read the data on the flight recorder.

Ottawa had been demanding that Iran, which does not have the technical means to extract and decrypt the data, send the plane's black boxes abroad.

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Iran Will Send Ukraine Airline Black Boxes to France

Iran said on Monday that it will send the black boxes of a shot-down Ukrainian plane to France in the "next few days" and expressed readiness to resolve remaining issues.

Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif made the remarks in a phone call with his Canadian counterpart Francois-Philippe Champagne, his ministry said in a statement.

"The decision to send the black boxes has been made for some time and it will soon be acted upon," Zarif was quoted as saying.

The ministry said the process had been delayed by the coronavirus pandemic, which has seen most international flights cancelled.

Iran says its novel coronavirus outbreak has killed 9,742 people out of more than 207,500 infected since reporting its first cases in February.

According to the statement, Iran had told Ukraine that it was ready to "resolve legal issues and discuss how to compensate the families" of victims, but was yet to receive a delegation from the other party.

Flight 752, an Ukraine International Airlines jetliner, was struck by two missiles and crashed shortly after taking off from Tehran's main airport on January 8.

Iran admitted days later that its forces accidentally shot down the Kiev-bound jetliner, killing all 176 people on board.

Tehran's air defenses had been on high alert at the time in case the US retaliated against Iranian strikes hours earlier on American troops stationed in Iraq.

Those strikes were carried out in response to the killing of a top Iranian general, Qassem Soleimani, in a US drone strike near Baghdad airport.

The black boxes are expected to contain information about the last moments before the aircraft was struck and crashed. 

Many of those on board the downed airliner were Canadians.

Photo: IRNA

Iran Asks France to Analyze Ukraine Flight Black Boxes

Iran has asked France to decrypt the black boxes from downed Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752, sources close to the investigation said Friday.

The Iranian envoy to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) in Montreal said the Islamic Republic had enlisted the help of France's BEA air accident agency to download and read the data on the flight recorder, the sources said.

BEA denied to AFP that it had been asked—but added that it was "ready to look at any request" from Iran.

Iran has admitted that it mistakenly shot down the Kiev-bound jetliner on January 8, killing 176 people.

The disaster unfolded as Iran's defenses were on high alert in case the US retaliated against Iranian strikes hours earlier on American troops stationed in Iraq -- which were themselves in response to the US assassination of a top Iranian commander.

The black boxes are expected to contain information about the last moments before the aircraft was struck by a ground-to-air missile and crashed, shortly after taking off from the Tehran airport.

Many of the passengers were Canadians.

For months, Ottawa has been calling on Iran, which does not have the technical capabilities to extract the fight data, to hand over the black boxes to Ukraine or France for analysis.

The Iranian official news agency IRNA reaffirmed at the beginning of June that authorities were prepared to do so, but warned that the badly damaged devices may not advance the investigation.

Photo: IRNA

Iran's Beleaguered President Rouhani Rules Out Resigning

By Amir Havasi

Iran's President Hassan Rouhani on Sunday ruled out resigning and vowed to see out his term, even as he admitted he had offered to step aside twice since being elected.

Speaking ahead of a general election next Friday, Rouhani also appealed to voters to turn out despite the fact that many moderate and reformist candidates were disqualified from the race.

Rumours have swirled in Iran recently that the 71-year-old, whose second and last term ends next year, had been planning to quit, but his office denied the reports.

Rouhani's government has come under fire over the state of Iran's sanctions-hit economy and for allegedly failing to fulfil election promises.

The legitimacy of Rouhani and his government have been called into question after they were left in the dark for days after the armed forces admitted they "accidentally" shot down a Ukrainian airliner on January 8.

Hardliners have attacked his administration for negotiating a nuclear deal with world powers that ultimately backfired when the United States withdrew unilaterally and reimposed harsh sanctions.

"My resignation does not make much sense... we have made promises to the people and we will continue to fulfil those promises" despite the economic situation and pressure from "the enemy", Rouhani said, referring to the US.

"The idea of resigning (because of these recent problems) never occurred to me."

But Rouhani admitted he had offered to resign twice in the past, and that they were rejected by supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

"In the first months after my election, I told the supreme leader 'If you think for some reason that someone else or another government can serve the country better, I'm ready to go'," said Rouhani.

"He vehemently rejected it," he told a news conference in Tehran.

Rouhani, a moderate conservative, said he raised the issue with the supreme leader again during his second term.

"I would not even let the government leave its responsibility an hour earlier, not a month or a week earlier'," he quoted Khamenei as saying.

Election Appeal

Rouhani's supporters suffered a setback in the lead-up to the February 21 election after more than half of the 14,444 who sought to stand were disqualified, most of them moderates and reformists.

Despite the purge, Rouhani called for a strong showing at the election.

"All elections are important to us, and I urge all people to come to the ballot box and vote... to choose the best (candidates) and have a good parliament," he told Sunday's news conference.

Iran's seventh president, Rouhani won election in 2013 after promising greater social freedoms and the benefits of engagement with the West.

He delivered on the second pledge in 2015, when Iran agreed to limit its nuclear activities in return for the lifting of international sanctions.

The president was re-elected in 2017 with the support of reformists.

But support from those who backed him in the past has fallen away badly amid criticism over his austerity measures.

In November, street protests broke out in Iran over a surprise petrol price hike.

They spread to dozens of urban centres and turned violent before being put down by the security forces.

Iran's economy has been battered since the US pulled out of the nuclear deal, with the World Bank estimating it shrunk by 8.7 percent in 2019.

Photo: IRNA

Canada Demands Cooperation in Iran Crash Ahead of International Meeting

Canada vowed Wednesday to get to the bottom of the plane crash that killed dozens of its nationals in Iran, ahead of a meeting in London with other countries that lost citizens.

Foreign ministers from Canada, Ukraine, Sweden, Afghanistan and Britain—which all had nationals who died—are scheduled to meet on Thursday to press for "full cooperation from Iranian authorities," Canadian Transport Minister Marc Garneau told a press conference.

"Canada will not accept a situation where we feel that we're not being given the information that we're looking for," he said.

"Make no mistake about it, Canada is going to get to the very bottom of this."

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has said that his government intends to ask Tehran for compensation for the families of Canadian victims, which Ottawa officials said Wednesday was a top priority.

The Ukraine International Airlines flight was shot down by Iran in a catastrophic error shortly after taking off from Tehran last week, killing all 176 passengers and crew on board.

According to Ottawa, 57 of the victims were Canadian.

"Our first priority at this time is supporting the families and friends of the 57 Canadians who lost their lives in this tragedy," Garneau said.

"While we cannot bring back their loved ones, we can make sure that they receive compensation to help them navigate this difficult time."

Asked if Ottawa might provide monies to the victims' families and seek reimbursement from Iran later in order to fast-track what could otherwise be a lengthy process, Trudeau's parliament secretary Omar Alghabra said: "We are actively exploring these options and we hope to have a resolution in short order."

Iran has invited Canada's Transportation Safety Board to participate in its investigation, including the download and analysis of the black boxes.

Garneau said Iran has indicated it wishes to cooperate, noting that two Canadian investigators were due to examine the wreckage at Tehran's invitation.

But he added that he would like Iran, as lead investigator, to formalize Canada's involvement in the probe as an "accredited representative" to ensure access.

A week after the crash, Canadian universities observed a minute of silence in tribute to the victims, which included academics and students.

Photo: IRNA

Iran Makes Arrests Over Jet Disaster and Vows Full Investigation

By Golnar Motevalli and Abeer Abu Omar

Iran said it’s arrested a number of people linked to the Jan. 8 downing of a Ukrainian passenger jet, and the country’s president called on the judiciary to form a special court and fully investigate the disaster.

Hassan Rouhani said Tuesday that while U.S. policies toward the Islamic Republic were the root cause of the mistake, that didn’t excuse Iranian officials from confronting their own responsibility in the disaster. All 176 people on board were killed when Iranian defense units fired at the plane, bringing it down shortly after take-off from Tehran.

“I promise that the government, with all its ability and using everything at its disposal, will investigate this matter,” Rouhani told officials in remarks broadcast live on state TV. “This is not an ordinary case. The entire world will be watching.”

Iran is under intense international pressure to provide full accountability over the circumstances that caused the crash of the Ukrainian International Airlines plane. The country’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, which led a strike on U.S. bases in Iraq hours earlier, said it had mistaken the aircraft for a cruise missile.

Iranian officials at first fiercely denied that Iran was to blame, provoking outrage and protests in Iran once they accepted culpability. Security forces clashed with thousands of protesters over the weekend and unverified video footage has shown them using tear gas and live-round ammunition to disperse and intimidate crowds in Tehran, who were chanting against the country’s leadership and the IRGC.

Those arrested will continue to be questioned, a spokesman for Iran’s judiciary, Gholam-Hossein Esmaili, told reporters, according to the semi-official Mehr news agency. Esmaili, who did not specify how many people had been detained, added that Iranian and Ukrainian investigators had traveled to France with the flight’s black box and their work should provide more clarity on the tragedy.

Photo: IRNA

Iran Protests Turn Violent in Ongoing Anger Over Downed Jet

By Aoyon Ashraf and Arsalan Shahla

Conditions boiled over as Iranians gathered for a second night of protests after the government admitted it had mistakenly downed a Ukrainian passenger jet, triggering global outrage as well as internal dissent.

Security forces stepped up their patrols as protesters, many of them students, came out in force in Tehran’s landmark Azadi Square and at Shahid Beheshti University, as well as in several regional cities.

Videos posted on social media, which could not immediately be verified by Bloomberg News, showed clashes between protesters and riot police, trails of blood on a main street, chants in opposition to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and calls to rid the country of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps. Protesters in the videos said arrests had been made and tear gas fired at crowds.

Anger spread across the globe after Iran’s leaders admitted on Saturday that its military accidentally shot down the Ukrainian jet on Wednesday, killing all 176 people on board, after mistaking it for a cruise missile.

The announcement was a dramatic reversal after the regime spent days accusing Western governments of “psychological warfare.” Iran’s government said Sunday it was forming a working group to probe the crash and compensate victims.

President Donald Trump, who a week ago threatened to bomb Iranian cultural sites, sent a series of tweets in Farsi over the weekend expressing support for protesters and warning Iran’s leaders not to intervene. “DO NOT KILL YOUR PROTESTERS,” Trump said.

Earlier, videos showed motorcycle-mounted security forces in green camouflage and anti-riot body armor stationed on Tehran’s central Valiasr Square. There was also a heavy police presence outside Tehran University.

In the face of the growing tensions, some of the organizers of a candlelight vigil Saturday—which turned into an angry protest against the regime—urged people on social media to avoid a rally initially planned for 6 p.m. local time, at Azadi Square.

Large crowds of students demonstrated outside Amir Kabir University in downtown Tehran late Saturday for the candlelight vigil, according to witnesses, before starting chants of “death to the dictator” and “resignation is not enough, a trial is needed!” Security forces intervened to disperse the demonstrators. The British Ambassador to Iran Rob Macaire was briefly detained after he attended the vigil, triggering an international incident.

Others used social media to vent their anger, contrasting the plane deaths with reports that the Iranian attack on the Iraqi bases on Wednesday when the plane was downed was specifically designed not to injure Americans.

The government’s admission that Iran’s security forces hold ultimate responsibility for the downing of the plane -- albeit at a time of conflict with their chief foe -- is a further blow for the country’s ruling clerics at a time when the economy has been devastated by U.S. sanctions. The admission appears to have undercut the sense of national unity that built after the Jan. 3 killing by the U.S. of General Qassem Soleimani, a hero to many Iranians for his work in Iraq and Syria helping to defeat Islamic State.

On Sunday, General Hossein Salami, commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, apologized for the jet downing during a speech n parliament, CBS reported, citing Iranian state television.

“I swear to almighty God that I wished I were in that plane and had crashed with them and had burned, and had not witnessed this tragic incident,” Salami said.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau Saturday said he was “outraged” and “furious” by the admission that Iran had shot down Ukrainian International Airlines Flight PS752. At least 57 Canadians were among the dead.

“What Iran has admitted to is very serious. Shooting down a civilian aircraft is horrific. Iran must take full responsibility,” Trudeau said Saturday at a press briefing in Ottawa. He earlier declared the incident a national tragedy.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in a televised address that he wants a full admission of guilt by Iran for what authorities there called a “disastrous mistake.”

Ukraine and Iran will work jointly to decode the black boxes of the doomed Ukrainian Boeing jet, Zelenskiy said. The Ukrainian government will make payments to the families of each of those who died in the crash, he said.

“I urge all international partners of Ukraine, the entire world community, to be united and to keep pressing until the full and final investigation into all the circumstances of this catastrophe is delivered,” said Zelenskiy.

The three-year-old Boeing Co. 737-800 was shot down about two minutes after takeoff from Tehran. The tragedy occurred hours after Iran started launching rockets against Iraqi bases where U.S. forces are stationed, in retaliation for Soleimani’s targeted killing. Nearly half the victims were Iranians, while many of the other passengers, including citizens of Canada, Sweden and the U.K., were of Iranian descent.

U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper said Iran was attempting to make itself the victim by blaming the jet incident, in part, on the escalation in tensions with Washington.

“Clearly, it was just a horrible mistake,” Esper said of downing of the Ukrainian commercial airliner in an interview with CBS News. “To somehow allow Iran to play the victim card with the international community is just ridiculous.”

The commander of the IRGC’s aerospace force, Amir Ali Hajizadeh, blamed the tragedy on a communications failure. The operative who first mistakenly identified the plane as an incoming missile failed to get a second opinion due to a “disturbance” and had only 10 seconds to make a decision, he said. The army had previously said that “culprits” would be turned over to judicial authorities.

Iran’s supreme leader offered his condolences to the victims of the Ukrainian flight, while President Hassan Rouhani said the Islamic Republic “deeply regrets the disastrous mistake” and vowed compensation for the families of victims.

Meanwhile, the fate of the 2015 Vienna Nuclear Agreement between world powers and Iran hung in the balance. German, France and the U.K. on Sunday affirmed their commitment to the deal, which Trump pulled the U.S. out of in 2018.

Tehran this month announced it would stop abiding by limits on uranium enrichment, which had been agreed to in return for sanctions relief. The U.S. has instead pressed ahead with a series of measures against the Islamic Republic.

Additional U.S. sanctions announced last week, and a new executive order signed by Trump, “gave us additional capabilities to target both primary and secondary sanctions in different sectors, including the metals industry, construction, and travel,” U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Sunday on Fox News.

Photo: IRNA

Iran Says It 'Unintentionally' Shot Down Ukraine Passenger Jet

By Marc Jourdier

Iran said on Saturday its armed forces "unintentionally" shot down a Ukrainian passenger jet that crashed after taking off from Tehran, killing all 176 people aboard.

President Hassan Rouhani said a military investigation had found "missiles fired due to human error" brought down the Boeing 737 on Wednesday, calling it an "unforgivable mistake".

The about-turn came after officials in Iran had categorically denied Western claims that the Ukraine International Airlines (UIA) airliner had been struck by a missile in a catastrophic error.

The plane, which had been bound for Kiev, slammed into a field shortly after taking off from Tehran's Imam Khomeini International Airport before dawn on Wednesday.

It came only hours after Iran's armed forces launched a wave of missiles at bases hosting American forces in Iraq in response to the killing of Qasem Soleimani, one of Iran's top generals, in a US drone strike.

Iran had come under mounting pressure to allow a "credible" investigation after video footage emerged appearing to show the plane being hit by a fast-moving object before a flash appears.

The Ukrainian and Canadian leaders called for accountability after Iran's admission.

The armed forces were first to acknowledge the error, saying the Boeing 737 had been mistaken for a "hostile plane" at a time when enemy threats were at the highest level.

"The Islamic Republic of Iran deeply regrets this disastrous mistake," Rouhani said on Twitter.

"Armed Forces' internal investigation has concluded that regrettably missiles fired due to human error caused the horrific crash of the Ukrainian plane & death of 176 innocent people."

Iran 'Saddened'

In a statement posted on the government's website, Rouhani said Iran's armed forces had been on alert for possible attacks by the Americans after the "martyrdom" of Soleimani.

"Iran is very much saddened by this catastrophic mistake and I, on behalf of the Islamic Republic of Iran, express my deep condolences to the families of victims of this painful catastrophe," he said.

Rouhani added he had ordered "all relevant bodies to take all necessary actions (to ensure) compensation" to the families of those killed.

"This painful incident is not an issue that can be overcome easily."

He said "the perpetrators of this unforgivable mistake will be prosecuted".

"It is necessary to take necessary steps and measures to remove the weak points of the country's defence systems so that such a catastrophe is never repeated again."

The majority of passengers on UIA Flight PS752 were dual national Iranian-Canadians but also included Ukrainians, Afghans, Britons and Swedes.

Demands for Justice

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky demanded Saturday that Iran punish those responsible for the downing of the plane and pay compensation.

"We expect Iran... to bring the guilty to the courts," the Ukrainian leader wrote on Facebook.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said closure and accountability were needed in the wake of the incident.

Trudeau also demanded "transparency, and justice for the families and loved ones of the victims".

"This is a national tragedy, and all Canadians are mourning together," his office said in a statement.

The disaster came as tensions soared in the region after the Soleimani killing, and fears grew of an all-out war between Iran and its arch-enemy the United States.

Washington said the Soleimani strike was carried out to prevent "imminent", large-scale attacks on American embassies.

Tehran had vowed "severe revenge" for the killing of Soleimani before launching missiles at the bases in Iraq.

"Human error at time of crisis caused by US adventurism led to disaster," Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif tweeted.

"Our profound regrets, apologies and condolences to our people, to the families of all victims, and to other affected nations."

Iran has invited the United States, Ukraine, Canada and others to join the crash investigation.

It is Iran's worst civil aviation disaster since 1988 when the US military said it shot down an Iran Air plane over the Gulf by mistake, killing all 290 people on board.

Video footage of the UIA 737, which The New York Times said it had verified, emerged and appeared to show the moment the airliner was hit.

A fast-moving object is seen rising at an angle into the sky before a bright flash appears, which dims and then continues moving forward. Several seconds later, an explosion is heard and the sky lights up.

Many airlines from around the world cancelled flights to and from Iran in the wake of the crash, or rerouted flights away from Iranian airspace.

Nations around the world have called for restraint and de-escalation, and fears of a full-blown conflict have subsided after US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that Iran appeared to be standing down after targeting the US bases in Iraq.

Photo: IRNA

Lufthansa Scraps Tehran Flights Until Jan 20

Lufthansa on Friday said it was canceling all flights to and from Tehran until January 20, following suggestions that Iran may have mistakenly shot down a Ukrainian passenger plane earlier this week.

The German group, which also owns Austrian Airlines, said the flight ban was "due to the unclear security situation for the airspace around Tehran airport.”

All 176 people on board died when the Ukrainian International Airlines plane went down near Tehran on Wednesday, shortly after Iran launched missiles at US forces in Iraq over the killing of a top Iranian general.

American, British and Canadian officials say intelligence sources indicate Iran shot down the plane, perhaps unintentionally, but this has been denied by Tehran.

Several airlines had already announced they would avoid Iranian and Iraqi airspace as tensions in the region soared.

A Lufthansa flight between Frankfurt and Tehran on Thursday turned back an hour after takeoff because of security concerns.

Austrian Airlines meanwhile said late Thursday that its flight to Tehran that day was ordered to return to Vienna after a stopover in Sofia.

Photo: Wikicommons

Iran May Seek U.S. Help in Jet-Crash Probe Through UN Treaty

By Alan Levin

Iran has invoked an international agreement to get assistance from foreign investigators—including from the U.S.—in the investigation of Wednesday’s fiery crash of a jetliner near Tehran, according to two people familiar with the matter.

Such a move is common in aviation disasters, and gives the country where the plane was produced the ability to participate. The plane that crashed was a U.S.-built Boeing Co. 737-800.

However, American agencies including the National Transportation Safety Board are weighing whether it is legal to engage with Iranian authorities under the terms of sanctions the U.S. has imposed on Iran. Moreover, they are concerned about the safety of sending people there given the confrontation between the two countries that has led to military strikes on both sides, the people said.

The probe into Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 -- which plunged from the sky minutes after takeoff, killing all 176 people aboard -- is fraught with difficulty and intrigue.

The crash came hours after an Iranian missile attack on two Iraqi military bases in retaliation for an American drone attack last week that killed one of Iran’s top generals. American forces are stationed at both bases.

Under the United Nation’s International Civil Aviation Organization, crash investigations are conducted by the nation in which they occur. In addition, the country where the plane and key components are manufactured are allowed to take part.

Iran notified the UN agency of the accident in the hours after it occurred, according to the people, who were briefed on the matter but weren’t authorized to speak about it and asked not to be named.

The NTSB routinely participates in dozens of crash investigations around the world under the ICAO process, known as Annex 13.

By notifying the ICAO, Iran suggested it might be open to U.S. help in the probe, said the two people. But the Islamic Republic has sent mixed signals, with some officials being quoted as saying they would not allow Americans to analyze the plane’s two crash-proof flight recorders, for example.

American law also prohibits the NTSB from working in Iran because of longstanding bans on conducting business in that country. The NTSB has occasionally assisted in accident investigations there, but had to obtain special permission from the U.S. Treasury. The process of obtaining such approval has at times taken more than a year.

“The NTSB is monitoring developments surrounding the crash of Ukraine International flight 752 and is following its standard procedures for international aviation accident investigations, including long-standing restrictions under the country embargoes,” the agency said in an emailed statement Wednesday.

“As part of its usual procedures, the NTSB is working with the State Department and other agencies to determine the best course of action.”

The State Department issued a statement offering assistance to Ukraine, but notably didn’t mention helping Iran. “The United States calls for complete cooperation with any investigation into the cause of the crash,” the department said.

The aircraft climbed normally until it reached an altitude of 7,900 feet (2,408 meters), then suddenly stopped transmitting its position, according to data from the tracking site FlightRadar24.

The jetliner was equipped with a device that communicated with the airline and it also showed the plane was behaving normally until it stopped transmitting at about the same time, said a person familiar with the data.

The airline said in a statement that the investigation would include representatives of Iran, Boeing, the airline and the National Bureau of Air Accidents Investigation of Ukraine.

Boeing said in a statement “we are ready to assist in any way needed.”

Photo: IRNA