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AFP
The 176 people on board were killed
Iran sent the black box of a Ukrainian passenger plane that was accidentally shot down in Tehran earlier this year to France.
The 176 people on board died when the plane was hit by two missiles shortly after takeoff on January 8.
Iran’s deputy foreign minister said the black boxes were brought to Paris on Friday and would be read on Monday.
Iran initially denied responsibility for the incident, which occurred amid intense tensions with the United States.
But the country admitted the blame days later, after Western intelligence officials said the evidence pointed to Iranian involvement.
Tehran said the Ukraine International Airlines flight had been mistaken for a cruise missile, in what President Hassan Rouhani described as an “unforgivable error.”
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Iran’s air defenses had been on high alert at the time. Hours before the accident, the country had fired ballistic missiles at two US bases in Iraq in retaliation for the murder of Iranian Chief General Qasem Soleimani by an attack by US drones in Baghdad.
Why is the black box important?
Iran had previously delayed the release of the black box, which contains key data and communications from the cockpit, amid disagreements with countries whose citizens died about where it should be decoded.
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Under global aviation rules, Iran has the right to lead the investigation, but manufacturers often participate, and experts say few countries are capable of analyzing black boxes.
Iran refused to release the black box to the US, where the manufacturer of the Boeing aircraft is located.
The recordings will now be analyzed by French experts. Canada, which lost 55 citizens in the accident, and Ukraine have said they will send their own experts to participate in the investigation.
What does Iran say happened?
Iran has conducted its own investigation into the accident, with a report released last week by the Iranian Civil Aviation Organization (CAOI) blaming “human error” and military miscommunication for the plane’s downing.
However, the Ukrainian foreign minister said it was “too soon” for such statements and that any conclusion should await the international investigation.
Last month, Iranian authorities said six people had been arrested for the incident.
There has been much speculation about why Iran did not clear the skies during the attack. A recent audio recording obtained by Canada’s CBC News suggests that the airspace remained open to avoid revealing Iran’s intention to attack the US air base in Iraq.
The recording is allegedly a conversation between the family of one of the accident victims and Hassan Rezaeifar, who at the time was leading Iran’s investigation into the incident.
Iran’s deputy foreign minister, Mohsen Baharvand, dismissed the recording and said it could not be used as evidence.
