TEHRAN – Iran’s ambassador to Ukraine has said that Iran seeks to resume flights to Ukraine which were stopped after the Ukrainian plane crash in early January.

“Unfortunately, the Ukrainian government canceled passenger flights between Iran and Ukraine after the incident,” Manouchehr Moradi told RIA Novosti, IRNA reported on Wednesday.

The Ukrainian airliner was mistakenly 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.

NA/PA