Iran plane crash: Foreign ministers from victims' nations to discuss legal action
Iran finally admitted it had accidentally shot down the plane with a missile shortly after it took off from Tehran on Wednesday.
Monday 13 January 2020 17:34, UK
Five nations whose citizens died in a plane shot down by an Iranian missile will meet in London on Thursday to discuss taking legal action against Iran, Ukraine's foreign minister said.
Vadym Prystaiko said the countries will also discuss compensation and the investigation into the downing of the Ukrainian International Airlines plane as it took off from Tehran airport on Wednesday.
All 176 people onboard died, including four Britons, 52 Canadians, 82 Iranians, 11 Ukrainians, 10 Swedes, four Afghans and three Germans.
"We have created this group of foreign ministers from the grieving nations," he told Reuters during an official visit to Singapore.
"On 16 January, we will meet in person in London to discuss the ways, including legal, how we are following this up, how we are prosecuting them (Iran)."
He said representatives from Canada, Sweden and Afghanistan would join him, as well as a fifth country he did not name - presumed to be the UK.
On Monday afternoon, the secretary of Ukraine's national security and defence council explained why the country's embassy in Iran initially released a statement that suggested engine failure was to blame for the plane's downing.
Oleksiy Danylov said authorities did not in fact know what had caused the incident but were hoping to gain access to the crash site.
"If we had said straight away that they had shot it down, I am not sure they would have let us go to the wreckage at all, let [alone] us do what we were doing," he said.
Canada announced last week it is leading a group of nations, including Ukraine, Sweden, Afghanistan and the UK, that lost citizens in the crash, called the International Co-ordination and Response Group.
The UK separately announced on Monday families of the victims could seek compensation from the Iranian government.
Boris Johnson's spokesman said: "As a first step we need a comprehensive, transparent and independent investigation to know exactly what happened.
"Of course the families of the four British victims deserve justice and closure and we will continue to do everything we can to support them in getting that, including options for compensation."
Iran initially denied it had shot down the plane by accident, but on Saturday the country's elite Revolutionary Guard admitted it "unintentionally" shot it down as the aircraft was "misidentified as a cruise missile".
Mr Prystaiko said everyone involved in the incident had to be held to account.
"What we don't want is somebody like the soldier, very low level, to be pointed and told that that is the guy who pushed the button. This is the Iranian government's responsibility," he said.
"We have to dig out who gave the order, who pushed the button. Everything, all these people should be punished."
Mr Prystaiko denied suggestions from Iran the aircraft was downed as it flew near a sensitive military base during a time of heightened tensions following retaliation for the US killing of .
"This is nonsense because our plane was recorded and confirmed - was going within the international route which was given by the dispatchers. Nothing was extraordinary," the Ukrainian foreign minister said.
He added that investigators said the pilot's last words were: "Everything is ok on board and I am switching to auto pilot."
Mr Prystaiko said: "I have seen this information on media that our plane changed the route.
"Yes, because it was hit by a rocket! It was already dying."
He also said Tehran had agreed to hand over the plane's black boxes to Kiev investigators - many of whom were involved when Malaysian airliner MH17 was shot down over eastern Ukrainian territory held by Russian-backed separatists in 2014.
"We want to have the full investigation of the recordings on the black boxes themselves to be done by Ukrainian specialists," he said, adding that France and the aircraft manufacturer Boeing should also be involved.
"They (Iran) committed to give it (black boxes) to us. What we are not having is a particular date when it will happen. We are pushing for immediate release of the black boxes."
Protests broke out in Tehran after the government revealed it had shot down the plane by accident.
Tensions with the UK heightened at the weekend as was arrested on Saturday, with the Iranian foreign ministry saying he needed to explain his "illegal and inappropriate presence" at an anti-government protest.
Mr Macaire, who was later released, said he had gone to a vigil for the people who died in the crash, and left when some chanting began.
He tweeted that he was detained "half an hour after leaving the area", adding that "arresting diplomats is of course illegal, in all countries".
On Monday, Iran's ambassador to the UK, Hamid Baeidinejad, was summoned to the Foreign Office.
Sky News has contacted the Foreign Office to confirm if the UK is attending Thursday's meeting.