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Garneau, Champagne pan Iran’s report on downing of PS752 as limited, selective

Aug 24, 2020 | 9:14 AM

OTTAWA — Two federal cabinet ministers say they expect more answers from Iranian officials about an air strike that downed a passenger plane earlier this year, killing everyone on board.

Transport Minister Marc Garneau and Foreign Affairs Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne say Iran’s preliminary report from the plane’s data recorders provides only “limited and selected information” about the downing of flight PS752.

The Ukraine International Airlines plane was shot down shortly after taking off from Tehran’s main airport on Jan. 8.

On the same night, Iran launched a ballistic missile attack targeting U.S. soldiers in Iraq in response to an American drone strike that killed a prominent Iranian general in Baghdad on Jan. 3.

Iran initially denied responsibility before admitting — in the face of mounting evidence and international pressure — that the plane went down upon being hit by two Iranian missiles.

All 176 people on board the plane bound for Ukraine were killed, including 55 Canadians and 30 permanent residents.

The joint statement from the two ministers says the brief report mentions only what happened after the first missile struck the aircraft, but makes no reference to the second missile.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 24, 2020.

The Canadian Press