TEHRAN – A senior Iranian diplomat leading the legal discussions on the Ukrainian plane crash has said that Iran agreed to pay $150,000 in compensation for each victim of the crash. 

Speaking after the third round of Iran-Ukraine talks in Kyiv, Mohsen Baharvand said during these talks several aspects of the Ukrainian plane crash in Tehran were discussed.

He told Iran Press that a detailed legal discussion had taken place, and the Iranian court had jurisdiction to hear the case of the Ukrainian plane crash because it was inside Iran.

“The indictment in the case of the Ukrainian plane crash has been issued in an Iranian court, and three judges are examining the case, and if there is a shortcoming in this regard, it will be dealt with according to the law,” Bahrvand noted. 

He pointed out that military investigations, judicial investigations, and investigations by Iranian aviation specialists, in collaboration with an International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) advisory group and experts from the U.S. and UK, showed that human error caused the crash.

Baharvand underlined that the compensation set by Iran to pay the families of the victims was much higher than what is stated in international law.

He said the Iranian government had agreed to pay $150,000 for each victim, whether Iranian or foreigner, which some families have received as compensation.

“Politicizing specialized issues hurts everyone because there are aviation standards, whoever abuses politics, the whole international community suffers; the political use of specialized issues causes a country like Canada to commercialize the grief of bereaved families and the blood of victims,” he added.

He announced Iran's readiness to cooperate in any way, provided that the authority of the Islamic Republic would be recognized and the sovereignty and immunity of the Iranian government would be respected.

The Ukrainian airliner was shot down shortly after taking off from Tehran’s Imam Khomeini airport on January 8, killing all 167 passengers and nine 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, Lt. Gen. Qassem Soleimani.

The airplane had been mistaken for an invading missile.