Iranian, Ukrainian Presidents Discuss Inquiry into Plane Crash

In a telephone conversation on Thursday, President of the Islamic Republic of Iran Hassan Rouhani and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky stressed the need to launch a detailed and immediate inquiry into the cause of crash of a Boeing 737 plane that went down minutes after takeoff from the Imam Khomeini International Airport in southwest Tehran on Wednesday morning.

In the conversation, Zelensky expressed gratitude to the Iranian rescue forces, emergency medical services, and technical experts following the crash, and called for mutual cooperation between the technical delegations from Ukraine and Iran in order to investigate the incident and ascertain the cause of the crash according to the international protocols.

In turn, Iranian President Rouhani emphasized the necessity for full cooperation between the two countries’ technical delegations in taking the necessary actions regarding the jetliner crash, adding, “I will order the Ministry of Roads and Urban Development to set up a joint team of experts from the two countries to carefully investigate the cause of the incident.”

The two presidents also agreed on interaction between the Iranian and Ukrainian foreign ministers to expedite and facilitate the course of cooperation between the two countries’ experts for investigation into the crash and for taking the necessary measures.

President Rouhani and President Zelensky also highlighted the close relations between the two countries, calling for the expansion of bilateral ties in all fields.