Iran indicated that it would keep and analyze the black boxes from Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752, which Tehran has admitted to shooting down, as the bodies of the 11 Ukrainian victims were returned to their homeland.
Iran backtracked after its lead investigator in the crash, Hassan Rezaeifar, said that the plane’s black boxes would be transferred to Ukraine because he did not have the capability to analyze the data held within the devices, according to the New York Times. Rezaeifar reversed himself on Sunday, saying that his team would attempt to extract the data.
“We are trying to read the black boxes here in Iran; otherwise, our options are Ukraine and France, but no decision has been taken so far to send them to another country,” Rezaeifar said.
Iran admitted to shooting down the passenger jet and killing everyone onboard three days after the aircraft crashed almost immediately after taking off from an airport in Tehran. The Iranian regime had first tried to blame the crash on the pilot, saying that the plane appeared to be flying erratically before its crash.
Tehran’s excuse began to unravel when video surfaced showing a missile hitting the plane and setting it on fire shortly before it crashed. The confession sparked mass protests in Iran against the government as protesters accused the regime of avoiding responsibility and lying to cover up its mistakes and crimes.
Iran said it unintentionally struck the plane while it was firing ballistic missiles at two Iraqi military bases where American soldiers were stationed. No Iraqi nor U.S. servicemen died in the attack, though 11 American soldiers were treated for concussions afterward.
Also on Sunday, the bodies of the Ukrainian victims returned home, where President Volodymyr Zelensky stood silently on a tarmac in Kyiv to meet them.
Iran’s attack on the military bases came as retaliation for a Jan. 2 U.S. drone strike that killed Iranian general and terror mastermind Qassem Soleimani. Soleimani was declared a terrorist by the U.S. government and controlled Tehran’s terror network throughout the Middle East. He planned and executed attacks that killed hundreds of U.S. soldiers.
