Diplomatic crisis brewing over Iran’s role in Ukrainian passenger plane crash probe
Government officials in Britain, Canada, Australia and the US believe it is likely the Kiev-bound plane was unintentionally struck by a stray Iranian missile on Wednesday, killing all 176 people on board. NATO has also suggested the plane was accidentally shot down and has urged Tehran to pass on all information about the crash.
I call on Iran to fully participate and contribute to a transparent and thorough investigation
NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said: “It is important that we establish all the facts there.
“I call on Iran to fully participate and contribute to a transparent and thorough investigation.
“We have no reason to not believe the reports we have seen from different NATO allies that the plane may have been downed by Iranian air defence systems.
“That’s exactly why we need a thorough investigation, to establish all the facts and that’s exactly why we have to have full cooperation from the Iranian side in such an investigation.”
Search and rescue teams at the scene of the Ukranian passenger plane crash (Image: GETTY)
Boris Johnson spoke with Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven earlier today to discuss developments regarding the plane crash.
A spokesman for the Prime Minister said: “The leaders expressed condolences to all those who lost loved ones on the Ukraine national airlines flight, including from the UK and Sweden.
“They agreed there must now be a full, transparent investigation and committed to working closely together and with other international partners to ensure families of the victims get the answers they deserve.
“They also underlined the importance of the continued fight against the shared threat from ISIS and urged the de-escalation in the region”.
READ MORE:Iran plane crash: Ukraine plane crashes in Tehran killing 176
Debris from the Ukranian passenger plane crash in Iran (Image: GETTY)
An investigator examines wreckage from the Ukranian passenger plane crash (Image: GETTY)
Asked about why Mr Johnson thought the alleged missile strike on the plane had been “unintentional”, the Number 10 spokesman added: “I’m not going to get into speculation.
“We have been clear there now needs to be a full and transparent investigation.”
Experts fear the growing international pressure against Tehran could trigger a diplomatic crisis.
Global risk analyst Eurasia Group said: “Iran will face intense political and economic pressure to co-operate with international aviation authorities and we expect Tehran will eventually accept Western investigators.”
Evidence suggests the Ukranian passenger plane was mistakenly shot down by Iran (Image: GETTY)
Iranian ambassador to the UK Hamid Baeidinejad said he is “clear” and “confident” that the Iranian military was not responsible.
He told Sky News he was confident that there was no missile launched in that area at that time.
Asked about footage which purports to show the incident, he said there is a “lot of footage and such videos” which he suggests contradict one another.
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Mr Baeidinejad said: “There has been a video that the same model of Boeing airplane has been set fire in other countries.
“We should be very, very careful not to jump to any judgements and let the experts see and in fact verify first the black box, which is the most important element to help us to have the full story and voice recorder.
“In fact the voice of the captain also has been recorded, and we have the hard evidence on the ground, so these are the main elements that should be verified.”
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Vadym Prystaiko said Iran was cooperating with its investigation into the crash and that Kiev was not ruling out any version yet of what might have happened.
Mr Prystaiko said Ukraine did not want to come to conclusions yet about what caused the crash.
He said the issue of where the black boxes would be analysed was still being discussed.
Four British citizens died in the crash but most of the passengers on Ukrainian International Airlines Flight 752 were from Iran and Canada. Other passengers came from countries including Sweden and Ukraine.
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