TEHRAN - Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and his Ukrainian counterpart Vadym Prystaiko on Thursday exchanged views over the latest developments regarding the Ukrainian passenger plane, which was downed mistakenly by the Iranian military near Tehran on January 8. 

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

Zarif who was talking to Prystaiko on the phone said Iran is ready to transfer the bodies of the Ukrainians victims to Kyiv.

Zarif also said that the ground is paved for the participation of Ukrainian experts in analyzing the plane’s black box. 

Prystaiko, for his part, appreciated Iran for admitting responsibility for the downing of the plane. 

The passenger plane was shot down on the morning of January 8, nearly four hours after Iran fired dozens of missiles at a U.S. air base in Iraq in retaliation to the January 3 assassination of Iran’s top general Qassem Soleimani in Baghdad.

The Iranian military officially announced on January 11 that the plane had been mistaken for a cruise missile.

President Hassan Rouhani said on Tuesday that the Judiciary should form a special court headed by a high-ranking judge and assisted by tens of senior experts to investigate the issue of the Ukrainian plane crash.

On Wednesday, Abbas Mousavi said that a special working group was established by the Foreign Ministry to facilitate consular affairs for the victims of the Ukrainian passenger plane.

MJ/PA