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Iran ends cooperation with Ukraine on plane crash probe
[PUBLISH.TWITTER]
[FoxNews] Iran has stopped cooperating with Ukraine in its investigation of a downed Ukrainian jetliner last month following the release of an audio clip that suggested Tehran knew its missiles brought down the passenger plane. The clip broadcasted by Ukrainian media on Sunday aired an exchange in Farsi between the pilot of an Iran Aseman Airlines flight and air traffic control. The pilot is heard saying that he saw flashing lights in the sky, suggesting it could be missile fire, the Wall Street Journal reported. Iran initially denied responsibly for bringing down Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 on Jan. 8. “A series of lights like ... yes, it is a missile, is there something?” the pilot calls out to the controller. “No, how many miles? Where?” the controller asks. The pilot responds that he saw the light by the Payam airport, near where Iran's Revolutionary Guard’s Tor M-1 anti-aircraft missile was launched from. The controller says nothing has been reported to them, but the pilot remains insistent. “It is the light of a missile,” the pilot says. “Don’t you see anything anymore?” the controller asks. “Dear engineer, it was an explosion. We saw a very big light there, I don’t really know what it was,” the pilot responds. Iran called the release of the recordings "unprofessional," saying they were part of a confidential report. Tehran has admitted it had fired at the plane, killing all 176 people on board. Senior officials said a junior officer mistakingly shot down the jet. The head of the Iranian investigation team, Hassan Rezaeifar, acknowledged the recording was legitimate and said that it was handed over to Ukrainian officials. "We will no longer provide any documents to the Ukrainians," he told Iranian news agency MEHR. “This action by the Ukrainians makes us not want to give them any more evidence." The incident came hours after Iran fired ballistic missiles at two military bases in Iraq that housed U.S. troops in retaliation for an American drone strike that killed a top Iranian general. Ukrainian authorities have demanded that air traffic control recording be decoded, something Iran has promised but has been slow to make good on. Ukraine says Iran ‘knew from start’ missile downed plane [IsraelTimes] Kyiv accuses Tehran of knowing from the start that an Iranian missile had downed a Ukrainian airliner last month, after leaked recordings emerged from Iranian air traffic control. The recordings feature a conversation between an air traffic controller and the pilot of another plane at the time the Ukrainian airliner was hit on January 8, killing all 176 people on board. The pilot can be heard describing "the light of a missile" on its route and then a kaboom. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says the recording "proves that the Iranian side knew from the start that our plane was hit by a missile." Related: Ukrainian airliner: 2020-01-27 Husband of a woman killed when Iran shot down a Ukrainian airliner has fled the country Ukrainian airliner: 2020-01-22 Canada, Iran at odds over who should analyse downed plane's black boxes Ukrainian airliner: 2020-01-18 ‘Days of God’: A look at Iran’s mounting crises Posted by: Skidmark 2020-02-04 |
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