Iran challenges four countries in UN court over jet it downed in 2020

Placards showing pictures of victims are displayed during a memorial to mark the one year anniversary of the Iran Air Crash in Toronto on Friday January 8, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young

Iran on Thursday filed a challenge at the International Court of Justice against Canada, Sweden, Ukraine and Britain over a UN aviation body’s ruling against it related to the shooting down of a passenger plane in 2020.

The four countries had citizens on a Ukraine International Airlines Boeing 737-800 that was downed shortly after takeoff from Tehran on January 8, 2020. All 176 people on board were killed.

Three days later, Iran admitted that its military fired two surface-to-air missiles at the Kyiv-bound plane but said it was by mistake.

Iran is appealing a March decision of the UN’s International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) over the jet’s downing.

The Montreal-based ICAO decided it had jurisdiction to rule on a case brought by the four countries against Iran, that accuses Tehran of “using weapons against a civil aircraft in flight”.

Iran called on the ICJ to rule that ICAO did not have jurisdiction and to quash its decision.

Tehran said in its application to the ICJ that its military had downed flight PS752 “unintentionally and due to human error”.

“The Iranian military had misidentified and targeted the flight by two missiles without obtaining authorisation, contrary to mandatory military regulations,” Iran told the court.

Tehran added that its military had been in “a period of heightened military alert... in anticipation of a possible attack by US military forces”.

Tensions between Iran and the United States had been soaring at the time the airliner was shot down.

Iranian air defences were on high alert for a US counterattack after Tehran fired missiles at a military base in Iraq used by American forces.

‘Accountability’ sought

Britain’s foreign ministry had welcomed ICAO’s March decision, saying it took the countries “a step closer to holding Iran to account for its illegal downing” of the plane.

“We will now proceed to the next phase in our case against Iran at ICAO.... We remain committed to seeking justice, transparency, and accountability for the 176 innocent victims and their families,” the U.K. ministry said.

In a separate case, the four countries dragged Iran before the ICJ in 2023 asking the court to make Tehran pay “full compensation” to the families.

In 2020, Iran offered to pay “$150,000 or the equivalent in euros” to each of the victims’ families.

Ukrainian and Canadian officials strongly criticised the announcement, saying compensation should not be settled through unilateral declarations.

The ICJ was set up after World War II to rule on disputes between UN member states.

Agence France-Presse