Iranian, Ukrainian Foreign Ministers Discuss January Plane Crash

In a telephone conversation on Wednesday, Foreign Minister Zarif and Kuleba talked about the results of a recent visit that the Iranian delegation of negotiators made to Kiev over the process of addressing the case of crash of Ukraine’s Flight PS752.

The two Foreign Ministers described the recent meeting between the negotiating delegations as a positive step and expressed hope that the continuation of talks and the exchange of information between the relevant and competent authorities of the two countries would help resolve the case as soon as possible and in a way that is satisfactory to the people of the both countries, particularly to the families and relatives of victims of the tragic incident.

In the conversation, Foreign Minister Zarif also voiced Iran’s readiness to pay the families and relatives of the victims of the accident compensation as a step to alleviate their grief.

For his part, the Ukrainian Foreign Minister said a delegation of negotiators from his country is prepared to pay a visit to Tehran in October to proceed with the negotiations.

In remarks on Tuesday, Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister for International and Legal Affairs Mohsen Baharvand reacted to reports that Ukraine would insist on the maximum sum of compensation for the relatives of the jetliner crash victims, stressing that international documents and treaties will be the criteria for the sum of compensation that Iran is going to pay.

The Kiev-bound UIA Boeing 737 crashed shortly after taking off from Tehran on January 8, killing all 176 people on board, mostly Iranian and Canadian citizens.

Iran said the plane was hit by an anti-aircraft missile due to human error.