Congress: Tehran Stonewalled Ukrainian Plane Crash Investigation

Rescue teams work amidst debris after a Ukrainian plane crashed near Imam Khomeini airport in Tehran. (AFP)
Rescue teams work amidst debris after a Ukrainian plane crashed near Imam Khomeini airport in Tehran. (AFP)
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Congress: Tehran Stonewalled Ukrainian Plane Crash Investigation

Rescue teams work amidst debris after a Ukrainian plane crashed near Imam Khomeini airport in Tehran. (AFP)
Rescue teams work amidst debris after a Ukrainian plane crashed near Imam Khomeini airport in Tehran. (AFP)

US Congresswoman Claudia Tenney confirmed that Iran has stonewalled the investigation in the 2020 Ukrainian plane crash.

“Iran stonewalled the investigation and has not taken any real steps to deliver justice to the families impacted. Join me in urging US Envoy to Iran to put this issue on his agenda,” she said in a tweet.

Ukraine International Airlines flight PS752 was shot down shortly after take-off from Tehran's Imam Khomeini airport on January 8, 2020, killing all 176 people on aboard. Most were Iranians, British, and Canadians.

After days of ambiguity and stalling, Iran admitted that a group from the Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has mistaken the plane for a missile.

Tehran says Revolutionary Guards accidentally shot down the Boeing 737 jet, blaming the jet crash on a misaligned radar and an error by the air defense operator.

In a final report in March, the Iranian Civil Aviation Organization (CAO) pointed to the missile strikes and the "alertness" of its troops on the ground amid heightened tensions between Iran and the United States at the time.

Iran's judiciary said a trial had opened in Tehran for 10 minor military members in connection with the jet's downing.

Meanwhile, families of the victims gathered Saturday at Tehran's Imam Khomeini Airport, from where the Ukrainian airliner crashed shortly after takeoff, to demand justice.

They chanted slogans against officials in Tehran and described them as corrupt.

“Compensation Can Never Replace Justice,” the families said, insisting that perpetrators be bought to an impartial court.

They held up pictures of their loved ones, laid flowers and lit candles in their memory, while calling for "Justice! Truth!", videos shared on social media showed.

State television separately published an interview with the mother of Zahra Hassani Saadi, who died in the crash, in which she questioned the authorities' handling of the case.

"We have several questions, who will answer us? Why wasn't the flight cancelled? Why was the cruise missile fired? We don't know and no one explained it to us," she asked.



Türkiye Insists on Two States for Ethnically Divided Cyprus as the UN Looks to Restart Peace Talks

UN Secretary General's Special Representative in Cyprus Colin Stewart, center, Cyprus' President Nikos Christodoulides, left, and the Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar talk as they attend the UN's end of year reception at Ledras Palace inside the UNbuffer zone in the divided capital Nicosia, Cyprus, Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias)
UN Secretary General's Special Representative in Cyprus Colin Stewart, center, Cyprus' President Nikos Christodoulides, left, and the Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar talk as they attend the UN's end of year reception at Ledras Palace inside the UNbuffer zone in the divided capital Nicosia, Cyprus, Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias)
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Türkiye Insists on Two States for Ethnically Divided Cyprus as the UN Looks to Restart Peace Talks

UN Secretary General's Special Representative in Cyprus Colin Stewart, center, Cyprus' President Nikos Christodoulides, left, and the Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar talk as they attend the UN's end of year reception at Ledras Palace inside the UNbuffer zone in the divided capital Nicosia, Cyprus, Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias)
UN Secretary General's Special Representative in Cyprus Colin Stewart, center, Cyprus' President Nikos Christodoulides, left, and the Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar talk as they attend the UN's end of year reception at Ledras Palace inside the UNbuffer zone in the divided capital Nicosia, Cyprus, Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias)

Türkiye on Wednesday again insisted on a two-state peace accord in ethnically divided Cyprus as the United Nations prepares to meet with all sides in early spring in hopes of restarting formal talks to resolve one of the world’s most intractable conflicts.
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said Cyprus “must continue on the path of a two-state solution” and that expending efforts on other arrangements ending Cyprus’ half-century divide would be “a waste of time.”
Fidan spoke to reporters after talks with Ersin Tatar, leader of the breakaway Turkish Cypriots whose declaration of independence in 1983 in Cyprus’ northern third is recognized only by Türkiye.
Cyprus’ ethnic division occurred in 1974 when Türkiye invaded in the wake of a coup, sponsored by the junta then ruling Greece, that aimed to unite the island in the eastern Mediterranean with the Greek state.
The most recent major push for a peace deal collapsed in 2017.
Since then, Türkiye has advocated for a two-state arrangement in which the numerically fewer Turkish Cypriots would never be the minority in any power-sharing arrangement.
But Greek Cypriots do not support a two-state deal that they see as formalizing the island’s partition and perpetuating what they see as a threat of a permanent Turkish military presence on the island.
Greek Cypriot officials have maintained that the 2017 talks collapsed primarily on Türkiye’s insistence on permanently keeping at least some of its estimated 35,000 troops currently in the island's breakaway north, and on enshrining military intervention rights in any new peace deal.
The UN the European Union and others have rejected a two-state deal for Cyprus, saying the only way forward is a federation agreement with Turkish Cypriot and Greek Cypriot zones.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is preparing to host an informal meeting in Switzerland in March to hear what each side envisions for a peace deal. Last year, an envoy Guterres dispatched to Cyprus reportedly concluded that there's no common ground for a return to talks.
The island’s Greek Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides says he’s ready to resume formal talks immediately but has ruled out any discussion on a two-state arrangement.
Tatar, leader of the breakaway Turkish Cypriots, said the meeting will bring together the two sides in Cyprus, the foreign ministers of “guarantor powers” Greece and Türkiye and a senior British official to chart “the next steps” regarding Cyprus’ future.
A peace deal would not only remove a source of instability in the eastern Mediterranean, but could also expedite the development of natural gas deposits inside Cyprus' offshore economic zone that Türkiye disputes.