Iran ready for bilateral talks on crashed Ukrainian jet

Tehran: The Iranian Foreign Ministry said the country is ready to hold bilateral talks with each of the related countries on issues concerning the crash of a Ukrainian passenger plane near Tehran in 2020.

Expressing condolences to the victims' families in a statement issued on Friday, the Ministry said that Iran's preparedness comes despite "illegal measures by certain states seeking to gain political advantages" by exploiting the accident and sorrows of the victims' families, reports Xinhua news agency.

It added that any talks should be based on goodwill, respect for countries' sovereignty, domestic laws and international obligations.

The Ministry noted that following the tragic event, all of the country's related organisations announced the main cause of the accident and fulfilled their responsibilities according to domestic law and international commitments "precisely, transparently and quickly".

The announcement came as a reaction to a Thursday joint statement on reparations made by Canada, the UK, Sweden and Ukraine, whose citizens were killed in the crash.

The four countries said they had abandoned efforts to talk to Tehran about reparations for the crashed plane and would try to settle the matter according to international law.

The Ukraine passenger flight crashed on January 8, 2020, by Iranian missiles shortly after it took off from Tehran, killing all 176 people on board.

Iran said that its forces "accidentally" shot down the plane.

On Friday, the second anniversary of the tragic accident victims was commemorated at a ceremony in Tehran's Behesht Zahra cemetery.