Ukraine expects Iran to immediately explain its MP's remark about the Ukraine International Airlines PS752 flight shot down near Tehran, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration Vadym Prystayko has said.
"We expect an immediate explanation from Iran on this deplorable statement. It shows full disrespect for human lives. Dozens of families from Iran, Ukraine, Canada, Sweden, the UK and Afghanistan lost their loved ones in the attack against the defenceless civilian aircraft," he tweeted.
The Iranian military did "well" by downing a civilian airliner in January, the spokesman for the Iranian parliament's legal and judicial committee, Hassan Norouzi, said on Sunday, adding that no arrests have been made in relation to the incident, contrary to official claims, according to Al Arabiya.
"The military forces carried out their duties well," lawmaker Hassan Norouzi told the state-run Hamdeli daily. "The movement of the plane was very suspicious," he added.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) shot down a Ukraine International Airlines jet on 8 January, killing all 176 onboard.
Iran claimed for days the plane crashed due to a "technical failure", before admitting to shooting down the plane "accidentally".