ICJ Asked to Open Case Against Iran over Downing of Flight

General view of the debris of the Ukraine International Airlines, flight PS752, Boeing 737-800 plane that crashed after take-off from Iran. (File photo: Reuters)
General view of the debris of the Ukraine International Airlines, flight PS752, Boeing 737-800 plane that crashed after take-off from Iran. (File photo: Reuters)
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ICJ Asked to Open Case Against Iran over Downing of Flight

General view of the debris of the Ukraine International Airlines, flight PS752, Boeing 737-800 plane that crashed after take-off from Iran. (File photo: Reuters)
General view of the debris of the Ukraine International Airlines, flight PS752, Boeing 737-800 plane that crashed after take-off from Iran. (File photo: Reuters)

Canada, Sweden, Ukraine and Britain have asked the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to institute proceedings against Iran over the shooting-down of a Ukrainian passenger plane in 2020 that killed all 176 people aboard.

The ICJ said the applicants claim that Iran had failed to take all practicable measures to prevent the destruction of Flight PS752 and had failed to investigate the matter properly.

Most of the 176 people killed when Iran shot down the Ukrainian jet near Tehran in January 2020 were citizens from those four countries, which created a coordination group that seeks to hold Iran to account.

Iran says its Revolutionary Guards accidentally shot down the Boeing 737 jet and blamed a misaligned radar and an error by the air defense operator at a time when tensions were high between Tehran and Washington.

The four counties had earlier sought for Iran to submit to arbitration under the rules of the 1971 Montreal Convention, an international treaty which requires states to prevent and punish offences against civil aviation.

The deadline for a settlement passed on Thursday.

Iran had also separately filed a complaint against Canada at the United Nation's top court, accusing Canada of violating international obligations by allowing people to seek damages against Tehran. Ottawa said it was analyzing Iran's application and "will take the appropriate next steps as per the International Court of Justice's procedures."

Last year, an Ontario court awarded C$107 million ($81 million), plus interest, to the families of six people who died when the Iranian Revolutionary Guards downed the Ukraine International Airlines plane.

At the time, Iran was on edge about possible attacks after it fired missiles at Iraqi bases housing US forces in retaliation for the killing days before of its most powerful military commander, Qassem Soleimani, in a US missile strike.



Iran to Hold Nuclear Talks with Three European Powers in Geneva on Friday

Western countries successfully moved a resolution at the IAEA to censure Iran over its nuclear program - AFP
Western countries successfully moved a resolution at the IAEA to censure Iran over its nuclear program - AFP
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Iran to Hold Nuclear Talks with Three European Powers in Geneva on Friday

Western countries successfully moved a resolution at the IAEA to censure Iran over its nuclear program - AFP
Western countries successfully moved a resolution at the IAEA to censure Iran over its nuclear program - AFP

Iran plans to hold talks about its disputed nuclear program with three European powers on Nov. 29 in Geneva, Japan's Kyodo news agency reported on Sunday, days after the UN atomic watchdog passed a resolution against Tehran.
Iran reacted to the resolution, which was proposed by Britain, France, Germany and the United States, with what government officials called various measures such as activating numerous new and advanced centrifuges, machines that enrich uranium.
Kyodo said Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian's government was seeking a solution to the nuclear impasse ahead of the inauguration in January of US President-elect Donald Trump, Reuters reported.
A senior Iranian official confirmed that the meeting would go ahead next Friday, adding that "Tehran has always believed that the nuclear issue should be resolved through diplomacy. Iran has never left the talks".
In 2018, the then-Trump administration exited Iran's 2015 nuclear pact with six major powers and reimposed harsh sanctions on Iran, prompting Tehran to violate the pact's nuclear limits, with moves such as rebuilding stockpiles of enriched uranium, refining it to higher fissile purity and installing advanced centrifuges to speed up output.
Indirect talks between President Joe Biden's administration and Tehran to try to revive the pact have failed, but Trump said in his election campaign in September that "We have to make a deal, because the consequences are impossible. We have to make a deal".