Iran wants to exchange black boxes from downed plane for Ukraine's refusal to take action

The Iranian authorities have sent a draft memorandum of understanding to the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry to prevent Kyiv from filing lawsuits against Iran over a Ukrainian passenger jet shot down near Tehran on January 8, according to Radio Farda.

"Iran is pushing Ukraine to sign a memorandum of understanding obliging Ukraine and the families of victims of flight 752, shot down over Tehran, to waive their right to pursue the matter any further through courts," the statement reads.

According to the document, Ukraine and the families of the victims are to accept "human error" as the cause of the crash.

The said document also stipulates that Ukraine and the families of the victims should not pursue criminal and judicial action against Iran in return for the payment of compensation by Iran and releasing the plane's flight recorder's contents after they are analyzed.

The Ukraine International Airlines (UIA) plane (Flight PS752) heading from Tehran to Kyiv crashed shortly after taking off from the Imam Khomeini International Airport at about 06:00 Tehran time (04:30 Kyiv time) on January 8. There were 176 people on board – nine crew members (all Ukrainians) and 167 passengers (citizens of Ukraine, Iran, Canada, Sweden, Afghanistan, Germany, and the UK). They all died.

On January 11, Iran admitted that its military had accidentally shot down the Ukrainian passenger jet. Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) accepted full responsibility for the downing of the Ukrainian airliner.

It emerged later that the UIA plane had been shot down by two missiles of the Tor-M1 air defense system, which Iran received from Russia.

Photo: AA