Sweden Announces Iran Will Compensate Downed Plane Victims’ Families

Swedish Foreign Minister Ann Linde announced that an agreement had been reached between Stockholm and Tehran regarding the compensation of families of the foreign victims who perished when the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps shot down a Ukrainian commercial airliner on January 8. In a statement released Thursday, Linde revealed that after extensive negotiations, the countries “have signed an agreement of mutual understanding” and “will now negotiate … about amends, compensation to the victims’ next of kin.” Two missiles struck the Boeing 737 – Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 – shortly after takeoff from Tehran Imam Khomeini International Airport. All 167 passengers, among them citizens of Sweden, Afghanistan, Ukraine, the United Kingdom and Canada, along with nine crew members, perished in the subsequent crash. After initially denying accusations that missiles targeted the aircraft, the Iranian government was eventually forced to admit that the incident was a result of a human error at an air defense base near Tehran.