TEHRAN - The chief of Iran’s Central Insurance Organization announced on Monday that the Ukrainian plane that was mistakenly downed near Tehran in early January had been insured by European insurers and therefore they should pay the compensation for the incident.

“The Ukrainian plane is insured by European companies in Ukraine and not by Iranian companies, therefore the compensation should be paid by those European companies,” Gholamreza Soleimani told a press conference, the Mizan online reported.

The Ukrainian airliner was shot down shortly after taking off from Tehran’s Imam Khomeini airport on January 8, killing all 167 passengers and 9 crew members.

On January 11, the Armed Forces General Staff released a statement saying the plane was mistakenly downed near the airport. 

The incident happened a few hours after Iran fired dozens of ballistic missiles at a U.S. airbase inside Iraq in retaliation for the assassination of top Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani.

The airplane had been mistaken for an invading missile.

The victims of the crash included 82 Iranians, 63 Iranian-Canadians, 11 Ukrainians, 10 Swedes, four Afghans, three Germans, and three British nationals.

Last month, Iranian and Ukrainian officials held talks on the compensation, with another round set for October.

Deputy Foreign Minister for International and Legal Affairs Mohsen Baharvand said last week that next round of talks over the incident will be held in Tehran.

In a July report, Iran’s Civil Aviation Organization blamed a chain of mistakes - such as a misalignment of a radar system and lack of communication between the air defense operator and his commanders - for the plane crash.

Minister of Transport and Urban Development Mohammad Eslami said on Sunday that the final report on the Ukrainian plane crash will be published soon.

“Information gathered by investigation team of the Civil Aviation Organization and also observations have been conformed to data of the black box, and Iran is supposed to reach a final conclusion at the presence of an Ukrainian delegation and issue the final statement,” Eslami told reporters.

Asked about the accurate date of publishing the final report, he said Iran is waiting for coordination with the Ukrainian team.

NA/PA