Iran Slams Ukraine’s ‘Unconstructive’ Remarks on Plane Crash

“We see remarks by our Ukrainian colleagues in media outlets and pay attention to them, but sometimes we do not understand the reason behind some unconstructive opinions,” said Baharvand on Wednesday.

“Maybe it is necessary that I once again remind you of the measures adopted by the Islamic Republic of Iran with regards to the heart-wrenching Ukrainian plane crash,” he added.

“The representatives of the Ukrainian government have been present through different stages of the investigation into the plane crash as well as when black boxes were being decoded in Paris,” he noted.

“We had two rounds of talks in Kiev and Tehran attended by representatives of different Iranian and Ukrainian institutions, including civil aviation, judicial and law enforcement organizations, foreign ministries, etc., and they received detailed explanation about how the accident happened,” the official explained.

“We agreed to hold the third round of talks in Kiev shortly, but the Ukrainian side first conditioned the third round on receiving certain documents, and we provided them with the documents as much as possible,” said Baharvand.

“However, seven months on since the second round of the talks, the Ukrainian side still has not announced the date of the next session slated to be held in Kiev,” he added.

“Still, in order to prevent any waste of time, the Islamic Republic of Iran decided to carefully and immediately fulfill its commitments in accordance with international aviation law,” he said.

“Iran’s Civil Aviation Organization, in due time, provided relevant countries and the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) with the technical report prepared by the team probing the accident, and also published it for the public,” the official noted.

“Those who are at fault for having caused the accident have been identified, and now indictments have been issued for 10 individuals and their cases will be heard in the court soon,” he said.

“The government has provided the Ministry of Roads, Housing and Urban Development with the funding to pay damages to the survivors of the victims, and the damages are ready to be paid,” he said.

“The reimbursements are seven times more than the amount Iran has undertaken to pay under Warsaw conventions, and Iran has also taken into account international norms in determining the damages in order for the payments to be fair,” the official said.

“We have also contacted the Ukrainian company and have expressed our readiness for talks on paying damages to the company for the air accident,” he added.

“Unfortunately, we are still hearing unusual comments from Canadian officials which are not supported by the norms of legal logic and are not acceptable,” he said.

“Some comments made by our Ukrainian colleagues implicitly suggest baseless threats of taking legal action and the like,” he said.

“I deem it necessary to say the Islamic Republic of Iran has discharged all its responsibilities based on international law and will move forward with the same trend till the end,” he said.

“So, Iran is not afraid of any rhetoric or any other possible out-of-the-ordinary move,” he added.

“While respecting its bilateral relations with other countries, Iran does not, within the framework of its national sovereignty, bow to any pressure or threats, will proportionately react to any illogical and irrational move against it, and will respond to the slightest unilateral move with legitimate, legal and diplomatic tools,” he said.