Iran offers 2nd round of talks over crashed Ukrainian plane

Tehran, Sep 1 (IANS) Iran has offered to hold a second round of negotiations over compensation for the Ukraine International Airlines plane that crashed near Tehran in January, a top envoy said.

“According to the agreement reached, the next round of negotiations will take place in October in Tehran,” Xinhua news agency quoted Iranian Ambassador to Ukraine Manuchehr Moradi as saying on Monday.

“The Iranian side handed a note to the Ukrainian Embassy in Tehran and proposed a period from October 18 to 21 for the second round of negotiations a few days ago.

“At the moment, we expect a response from the Ukrainian side regarding the proposed period,” said Moradi.

The first round of negotiations ended on July 31 in Ukraine, where technical and legal aspects of the accident were examined, and details of the October round of talks in Tehran were agreed upon.

The Boeing-737, en route from Tehran to Kiev, was shot down by two rockets shortly after takeoff from Tehran’s Imam Khomeini International Airport on January 8.

The accident resulted in the deaths of all 167 passengers and nine crew members on board, who were citizens of Ukraine, Iran, Canada, Sweden, Afghanistan, and the UK.

Later, Iran’s armed forces confirmed that an “unintentional” launch of a military missile by the country was the cause of the incident.

In July, the transcript of the black boxes from the plane confirmed the fact of an illegal interference with the plane.

–IANS

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