Iran denies downing plane, wants evidence from West

Tehran, January 10

Iran today denied Western allegations that one of its own missiles downed a Ukrainian jetliner that crashed outside Tehran, and called on the US and Canada to share information they have on the crash that killed all 176 people on board.

Western leaders said the plane appeared to have been unintentionally hit by a surface-to-air missile just hours after Iran launched around a dozen ballistic missiles at two US bases in Iraq to avenge the killing of its top general in an American airstrike last week. UK PM Boris Johnson said there was a body of information that suggested that an Iran missile shot down the plane.

“What is obvious for us, and what we can say with certainty, is that no missile hit the plane,” Ali Abedzadeh, head of Iran’s national aviation department, said.

Meanwhile, Iran said it wanted to download black box recordings itself from the Ukrainian airliner after Canada and others said the plane was brought down by an Iranian missile, probably by mistake.

Hassan Rezaeifar, the head of the Iranian investigation team, said recovering data from the black box flight recorders could take more than a month and that the entire investigation could stretch into next year. He also said Iran may request help from international experts if it is not able to extract the flight recordings.

Also Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo have discussed the investigation of the plane crash.

Several nations, including Dutch and France, along with the European Union, have called for a thorough probe into the crash.

The ballistic missile attack on the bases in Iraq caused no casualties, raising hopes that the standoff over the killing of Gen. Qassem Soleimani would end relatively peacefully, though Iran has sent mixed signals over whether its retaliation is complete.

The Iranian public had rallied around the leadership after the killing of Soleimani last Friday, with hundreds of thousands joining the general’s funeral processions in several cities, in an unprecedented display of grief and unity. — Agencies

Tehran faces more american sanctions

Washington: US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order imposing more crippling sanctions against Iran, targeting several of its top leaders, military commanders, and its infrastructure industry, a White House statement said. Those operating in the construction, manufacturing, textiles, or mining sectors of the Iranian economy will be affected. PTI