The Omani capital, Muscat, hosted talks between Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and Canadian Francois Philippe Champaign on cooperation between the countries involved in the tragedy of the downing of the Ukrainian passenger plane.
Zarif said in a tweet on Twitter that his country refused to politicize the issue, stressing that it should focus on the families of the victims.
A statement issued by the Iranian Foreign Ministry stated that Zarif expressed to his Canadian counterpart his deep regret over the accident.
He stressed that the two sides exchanged views on issues of technical, consular and legal cooperation between Iran and the countries that lost their citizens in the plane crash.
The statement added that Zarif and Champaign decided to maintain contact between the expert teams in the foreign ministries of the two countries, and to arrange a new meeting between the two ministers at an appropriate time.
The statement indicated that the meeting took place in Muscat, upon Zarif’s return from India, in response to the request of the Canadian side.
For his part, Canadian Foreign Minister Francois Philippe Champaign said that they discussed the entry of Canadian experts to Iran to participate in the investigations and identify the victims, and called on Iran to be transparent in analyzing the plane's black box and commitment to provide compensation to the victims of the accident.
In the context, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said that his country has received Iranian assurances that a strict international investigation into the causes of the Ukrainian plane was shot down. Trudeau added that his country is working with the international community to ensure this.
For his part, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that the shooting down of the Ukrainian passenger plane by Iran occurred at a time when Iran was concerned about the flight of a number of American F-35 fighters on the Iranian border, noting that "such circumstances are accompanied by tension in Mostly. "
And last Tuesday, the Iranian judiciary announced the arrest of several individuals for their involvement in the Ukrainian plane crash.
And Saturday, the General Staff announced - in a statement - that its air defense system shot down the Ukrainian passenger plane due to a human error the moment it passed over a sensitive military area.
Whereas, the Revolutionary Guards announced - according to the commander of his underground force - that he was responsible for shooting down the plane.
On January 8, a Ukrainian Boeing 737 passenger plane crashed in Tehran a few minutes after take off, killing 176 people, including 82 Iranians, 57 Canadians, 11 Ukraine, 10 Swedes, 4 Afghans, 3 Germans and 3 Britons.