Iranian prosecutor announces indictments in downing of Ukrainian jet

An Iranian prosecutor on Tuesday announced indictments in the 2020 downing of a Ukrainian jet.

Ten officials are being indicted in the downing of the plane that left 176 people dead, but the officials did not name who was facing the indictments, according to an Associated Press report.

“The indictment of the case of the Ukrainian plane was also issued and a serious and accurate investigation was carried out and indictments were issued for 10 people who were at fault,” Iran’s Mizan news agency reported Tehran military prosecutor Gholamabbas Torki said.

The announcement of the indictments comes after the country faced harsh criticism for its final report on the incident last month and before Iran is expected to begin indirect discussions with the U.S. to reenter a nuclear pact.

Iran said in a final report that an air defense operator mistakenly thought the plane was a hostile target so two missiles were fired at it. 

The report was quickly condemned by several nations for its failure to name who was responsible for the incident. 

“What we saw in the published report today is nothing more than a cynical attempt to hide the true reasons for the downing of our plane,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said in a Facebook post. “We will not allow Iran to hide the truth, we will not allow it to avoid responsibility for this crime.”

Although Iran originally denied downing the jet, they later apologized and are paying $150,000 to each family who lost someone in the crash.

Iran is meeting with five other countries in Vienna on Tuesday and will begin indirectly talking with the U.S. about reentering the 2015 nuclear deal that former President Trump pulled out of in 2018.