Iran’s Foreign Minister mohammad Javad Zarif on the anniversary of the Ukrainian plane mistaken downing said “justice will be served.”
The Ukraine International Airlines flight PS75, en route to Kiev, carrying mostly Iranian and Iranian-Canadian passengers crashed near Tehran minutes after takeoff killing all 176 people onboard on January 8, 2020.
The tragic incident happened when Iran’s air defense were at highest possible level of alert following the earlier assassination of the country’s prominent anti-terror commander Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani in neighboring Iraq by the US.
“It is with heavy hearts that we commemorate victims of #PS752 tragedy,” Zarif tweeted late on Wednesday.
Sympathizing with the bereaved families of the victims, Zarif wrote, “Nothing can make up for loss of loved ones.
“Only thing we can do is to provide compensation in accordance with prevailing int’l norms and to hold those responsible to account. Justice will be served.”
Earlier on Wednesday, Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani said all those culpable of dereliction of duty in last year’s mistaken downing of a Ukrainian airliner have to face trial.
“We said [this] from day one that all those responsible for the incident should be tried justly at a court,” Rouhani said, addressing a cabinet meeting in Tehran.
“Today too, we [still] lay emphasis [on the same imperative] and the Judiciary will surely make this happen,” he added.
Commenting on the same occasion, the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) said in a statement that the US adventurism in the region led to the tragic incident.
Pledging a harsh revenge against enemies, the IRGC said, the crash of the Ukrainian passenger plane, which occurred after the US adventurism and its terrorist crime of assassinating Iran’s top anti-terror commander and the subsequent IRGC missile strike on the terrorists’ Ain al-Assad base in Iraq, had left the Iranian nation completely bereft.
“The heavy burden of parting with the dear children of Iran is very hard and poignant, and this is a bitter incident that took place in the wake of the US’ inhumane acts of adventurism and terrorist acts in the region,” the statement said, adding, “It once again proved the zenith of malice and spite of global arrogance against the Islamic Republic and the people of Iran.”