Iran to send France black boxes from downed Ukrainian airliner ‘soon’

Iran has said it will “soon” send France the black boxes of a Ukrainian jetliner its forces mistakenly shot down in January, Canada’s prime minister says

“The black boxes are supposed to be sent to France soon,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau tells a daily briefing, adding that the coronavirus pandemic had delayed the handover.

“We’re going to continue to put pressure on the Iranian regime alongside our international partners to get answers, to get justice, to get compensation for the families,” he adds.

People gather on January 11, 2020 for a candlelight vigil to remember the victims of the Ukraine plane crash at the gate of Amri Kabir University in Tehran, Iran (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi, File)

The prime minister says he raised the analysis of the black boxes in a telephone call with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky “a couple of days ago.”

Many of the passengers on board the downed airliner were Canadian, and Ottawa has demanded for months that Iran, which does not have the technical means to decode the black boxes, send the items abroad so that their content can be analyzed.

— AFP