TEHRAN- The Iranian Foreign Ministry has chastised Canada, Sweden, Ukraine, and the United Kingdom for pursuing “political intentions" by referring the issue of a Ukrainian passenger plane disaster in January 2020 to the International Court of Justice, saying that the four had avoided dialogue with Tehran.

The four Western nations were pursuing their “political objectives and interests” by suing Iran at the ICJ, the Iranian Foreign Ministry emphasized in a statement released on Sunday.

The four nations said in their appeal to the ICJ on Wednesday that Iran had broken “a series of obligations” in relation to the alleged Montreal Convention on the safety of civil aviation.

They charged Iran with failing to take “all reasonable steps” to stop the shooting down of Ukraine International Airlines flight PS752 in January 2020, which resulted in the deaths of all 176 aboard, as well as failing to carry out an “impartial, transparent, and fair criminal investigation and prosecution.”

Additionally, the four countries requested that the world court require Iran to publicly admit its “internationally wrongful acts,” extend an apology to the families, and guarantee that the tragedy won't happen again.

In its statement, the Foreign Ministry said that Iran immediately after the event established an “independent technical group” and took the required steps “with goodwill, transparency, and utmost seriousness” to examine and shed light on many facets of the terrible situation.

“Following the tragic incident involving the Ukrainian plane, the Islamic Republic of Iran has officially, in accordance with domestic laws, international commitments, and with goodwill, transparency, and utmost seriousness, taken necessary actions to shed light on various aspects of the incident,” the statement read.

It went on to add, “It is worth mentioning that, in the aftermath of the incident, the Islamic Republic of Iran facilitated and provided assistance, including immediate visas, for over fifty specialists and experts from Ukraine and Canada to visit the scene of the incident.”

Following the conclusion of the investigation, the Iranian government stated that a technical report was prepared in the allotted time with the help of experts from France, the United States, Ukraine, Canada, and Britain.

It also stated that the report was “well-received” by the majority of the aforementioned experts.

The statement stressed that the Military Prosecutor of Tehran conducted comprehensive, independent, impartial and complete investigations into the incident in compliance with the rules and regulations of the nation.

It is important to note that the Military Court has met with the victims’ relatives 20 times based on the criminal investigations carried out by the prosecutor’s office.

The court rendered its decision and sentenced the defendants in February 2023 after carefully examining and taking into account the statements, justifications, and counterclaims made by the plaintiffs, their attorneys, and the defendants.

The statement stated that “it should be noted that some parties to the case have appealed the verdict.”

The Iranian authorities emphasized that the Islamic Republic invited the Ukrainian, Canadian, British, and Swedish embassies in Tehran to the court through diplomatic channels and during the hearings.

The statement continued, “The Islamic Republic of Iran has always stated that it is willing to engage in dialogue with relevant countries and has had three rounds of consultations with the Ukrainian government in the cities of Kiev and Tehran.”

“In addition to repeatedly expressing its willingness to engage in bilateral negotiations with Ukraine, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Sweden, the Islamic Republic of Iran, in its latest diplomatic effort, announced its readiness to engage in collective negotiations with the four governments to demonstrate goodwill and prevent the exploitation of this tragic incident for their political purposes,” it continued.

It also noted, “Iran is still awaiting their response to proceed with the negotiations at a designated time and place.”

The statement emphasized that the aforementioned governments had disregarded the Islamic Republic’s proposals, showing a lack of commitment to their own request for negotiations.

“Their request for negotiations was practically a means to pursue their political objectives and interests as they referred the matter to the International Court of Justice,” it added.

On January 8, 2020, Ukraine International Airlines flight PS752, en route to Kiev and transporting mostly Iranians, was mistakenly downed minutes after takeoff near Tehran, the Iranian capital.

Due to heightened tensions between Tehran and Washington following the U.S. assassination of renowned Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani in Iraq a few days earlier, Iran’s air defenses fired down the airliner after mistaking it for an invading missile.

Days afterwards, Iran admitted that the primary human mistake that caused the incident was the operator of an air defense unit mishandling the radar equipment.