Iran’s Revolutionary Guard fired two surface-to-air missiles at Ukraine International Airlines Flight PS752 on January 8, 2020, shortly after it left Tehran bound for Kyiv. All 176 people aboard died. Tehran later called the shootdown a “disastrous mistake” by forces on high alert, after it had launched missiles at Iraqi bases with US forces, answering the killing of Qassem Soleimani.
That is the wound Ukraine carried into its quarrel with Iran over a vessel in the Caspian Sea. Iran accused Ukraine of striking a commercial ship there and killing a sailor. The Centre for European Policy Analysis noted that Kyiv has long had grounds for grievance against Tehran, and it put the downing of the jet first on the list.
Compensation without the truth
One detail in the older record deserves correcting. Iran did put money on the table: $150,000 for each victim, a figure its ambassador to Ukraine, Manouchehr Moradi, announced on Twitter after a third round of talks. Kyiv turned it down. Foreign ministry spokesman Oleg Nikolenko said compensation was an important step toward justice, but only after the full truth about the crash came out.
“Only then can we talk about the compensation,” he said, adding that the amount should be agreed by all the governments whose citizens died, not set by one side.
Around the same time, ministers from four countries (Canada, Sweden, Ukraine and Britain) issued a joint claim. They said Iran’s actions and omissions amounted to breaches of international law and demanded an acknowledgement of wrongdoing, a full accounting of how the plane came down, a public apology, and fair payment for material and moral harm.
Six years on
For the families, the demand has not changed. At a ceremony in Richmond Hill, Ontario, marking the sixth anniversary, Kourosh Doustshenas, who speaks for the victims’ families association, said: “Without truth and justice, we don’t have any closure in our lives.”
Among the dead were 55 Canadians and 30 permanent residents of Canada; the town of Richmond Hill counted 44 victims as residents, workers or students. Amirali Alavi, who lost his mother, Neda Sadighi, an optometrist, called her death “very unjust”. Canada’s foreign minister, Anita Anand, told the families Ottawa was committed to every legal route for making Iran answer.
The Caspian dispute is the latest strain. Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukraine hit vessels carrying military cargo linked to Iran, plus a warship. Iran’s Foreign Ministry replied that the attack was “hostile and criminal”.
Sources
- Ukraine refuses Iran's compensation for downed plane victims
- Families of victims of Flight PS752 mark 6th anniversary of downing
- Iran accuses Ukraine of deadly attack on Caspian commercial vessel
