Iran says call for reparations over shot-down Ukraine jet has 'no basis'

Four countries have urged it to pay for the airline tragedy

Ambassador Majid Takht Ravanchi said Iran had previously offered to hold bilateral negotiations with each of the countries. EPA

The Iranian ambassador to the UN has said a letter from three Western countries and Ukraine seeking reparations over the Ukrainian passenger plane shot down in 2020 “has no basis and effect on Iran”.

Iran is being urged to work with Canada, Sweden, Ukraine and the UK to pay compensation over the missile attack on the jet by Iran's military that killed all 176 passengers.

The four countries told UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres in a letter that the reparations issue must be addressed collectively “so that all victims are treated fairly and equally”.

Last month, ministers from the four countries said they received “an unequivocal response” from Iran on December 27 “that it does not see a need to negotiate with the group … related to our collective demand for reparations”.

In a letter to Mr Guterres circulated on Thursday, Iran's UN ambassador Majid Takht Ravanchi said the co-ordination group’s request for joint negotiations “has no basis and effect on Iran”.

Iran previously offered bilateral negotiations with each of the four countries, and “expresses once again its willingness to hold further bilateral negotiations with Canada, Sweden, Ukraine and the United Kingdom,” Mr Ravanchi said.

The countries accused Iran of avoiding its international legal responsibilities by refusing to negotiate.

The group said: “We will not stand for this affront to the memories of the 176 innocent victims.”

Passenger jet mistaken for American cruise missile

In January 2020, following three days of denial in the face of mounting evidence, Iran finally acknowledged it had mistakenly shot down the Ukrainian plane with two surface-to-air missiles shortly after take-off from Tehran.

It happened on the same day Iran launched a ballistic missile attack on US troops in Iraq in retaliation for an American drone strike that killed a top Iranian general.

In preliminary reports on the disaster in 2020, Iranian authorities blamed an air defence operator who they said mistook the Boeing 737-800 for an American cruise missile.

The four nations seeking reparations on behalf of the victims said that after two years and multiple efforts to resolve the issue through negotiations, further attempts were “futile”. The four countries “will now focus on subsequent actions to take to resolve this matter in accordance with international law”. They did not elaborate.

Mr Ravanchi said it was “ironic” that the four governments had concluded that any attempts at negotiations with Iran were futile without engaging in bilateral negotiations.

He said Iran took part in three rounds of bilateral talks with Ukraine in Kiev in July 2020 and June 2021 and in Tehran in October 2020 and had taken “all feasible measures to fulfil its internal and international obligations”.