Canadian officials arrive in Iran amid Flight PS752 investigation
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Iran has issued eight more visas to a team of Canadian officials following a fatal plane crash near Tehran and most members of the group should be in Tehran on Monday, Canadian Foreign Minister François-Philippe Champagne said on Sunday.
Champagne said on Twitter that three officials from the rapid deployment team had flown to Iran on Saturday to set up a base of operations and a further eight would travel on Monday.
“We expect the [team] to be fully in place to do their important work by Jan. 14,” Champagne said.
Canada has been demanding a significant role in the investigation into the incident that killed 176 passengers, most of them Iranians and Iranian-Canadians.
After initially blaming a technical failure, Iranian authorities finally admitted on Saturday that the country’s military accidentally struck the Boeing 737-800, causing it to crash in the countryside southwest of the Iranian capital.
The downing happened as Tehran was bracing for U.S. airstrikes and only hours after Iran had fired missiles at two air bases housing U.S. and Canadian forces in Iraq. Tension rose on Jan. 3 after a U.S. drone strike in Iraq killed prominent Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani, responsible for building up Iran’s network of regional proxy armies in Iraq and beyond.
Canada says it wants to take part in the crash investigation and help the families of the Canadians who died.
ime Minister Justin Trudeau told hundreds gathered on Sunday at an Edmonton memorial for victims of this week’s air disaster outside Tehran that Canada stands united in grief.
“Thank you all for gathering here in this moment of national pain,” Trudeau said at the event at a packed sports centre at the University of Alberta.
“Across this great country, we stand united together in this time of sorrow.
“All Canadians were heartbroken to hear that Ukrainian International Airlines Flight 752 had crashed. All Canadians were shocked and outraged to learn that it had been brought down by an Iranian missile.
“This tragedy struck our Iranian-Canadian community, leaving cities like Edmonton reeling. But this was truly a Canadian tragedy. All Canadians are mourning your loss.”
On Saturday, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said the missiles were fired due to “human error.”
