Iran under growing pressure to hand over Ukraine jet black box
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Canada and other countries whose nationals were killed in the Iranian strike on a Ukrainian civilian jet leaving Tehran have stepped up their requests for Iran to hand over the black box to a third party for examination.
Iran’s foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, has suggested specialist equipment should be sent to Tehran to help the Iranians decrypt the contents of the black box and has given a commitment the box will not be opened except in the presence of all interested parties. But with an impasse looming, western aviation experts have said it is not possible to send the cumbersome equipment to Tehran.
Victims of the crash on 8 January included 82 Iranians, 63 Canadians, 11 Ukrainians, 10 Swedes, four Afghans, three Germans and three Britons. Canada, Ukraine, Germany, Britain and Afghanistan have a formed a group to pursue a thorough investigation of the incident.
Following a meeting on the margins of a Munich security conference, the Canadian foreign minister, François-Philippe Champagne, said: “On behalf of the grieving nations of this tragedy, we told minister Zarif in no certain terms that Iran must take steps toward resolving many outstanding questions of fact and of law.”
Earlier he had met Zarif to discuss the issue of the black box and compensation for grieving families.
