05 February 2020•Update: 06 February 2020
TRENTON, Canada
Canada said Wednesday it will seek international help to pressure Iran into surrendering the black box from a downed Ukrainian airliner.
Foreign Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne said he and Transportation Minister Marc Garneau met with officials from the International Civil Aviation Organization and enlisted their aid to get the black boxes.
Canada wants the data recordings to be given to France for analysis, but Iran has asked other countries for technical equipment it lacks so it can decode the box. Officials are skeptical that scenario might not lead to an unmasking of the truth of what happened.
Iran inadvertently shot down the airliner Jan. 8, killing all 176 on board, including 57 Canadians.
“Obviously, we are standing up for the families – we’ll always do that,” Champagne said. “Not only we’re standing up as Canada, but I think now the whole world is watching and saying, ‘Hold on a minute, there’s an international convention to which Iran is a party to, and now they have to abide by that.’”
The foreign minister said he would speak by telephone with his Iranian counterpart, Wednesday.
“We are going to be talking about the black box,” Champagne said. “Obviously, we are going to be talking about the investigation, we are going to be talking about compensation.”
Canada wants Iran to compensate financially those who lost family when the plane was shot down by Iranian air defense missiles.
Iran said it believed the plane was an enemy attacking in retaliation for a missile strike Iran made against American and coalition forces a few hours prior.
That strike was made days after the United States killed Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani in Baghdad.
