Iran plane crash: Tehran insists it will supply black box data to Trump administration

Ambassador denies reports Iran shot down the aircraft

Iran will hand over data from the black box and voice recorder of the crashed Ukrainian airliner to foreign experts, including those from the US government, the country’s ambassador to London said.

“Absolutely, we have said we want a clear and transparent solution to this tragedy, and the experts will be given the information necessary from the voice recorder and the black box,” insisted Hamid Baeidinejad, one of Iran’s most senior diplomats.

The US has now said it will share intelligence with the Ukrainians about the plane they allege was shot down.

The ambassador denied categorically that the Boeing aircraft destroyed with 176 people on board was brought down by an Iranian missile. He was adamant that no missile had been fired at the plane.

He said: “The radars can tell between a missile, a fighter plane and a passenger plane, so it would have been clear that this was not a missile or a fighter plane.”

Mr Baeidinejad criticised foreign governments, including the UK, which had said there were strong indications that the airliner may have been brought down by military action.

“One should not make judgements before all the facts are known,” he said.

“I am disappointed that some countries including the UK, which do not have hard evidence, without access to the black box, the voice recordings, air plane wreckage and the technical engineers reports in Tehran airport, are rushing to judgement. That only adds to the anxiety of the families.

“Plane accidents are a very technical issue. I cannot judge, you cannot judge, reporters on the ground cannot judge. Nobody can judge. A foreign minister or a prime minister cannot judge on this issue.”

Boris Johnson, the prime minister, has said there was “a body of information that the flight was shot down by an Iranian surface-to-air missile”, adding that it could have been an accident.

Asked a question on reports that the Iranian authorities had refused to share the information from the black box with foreign experts, the ambassador said: “absolutely not”, reiterating that all relevant information would be handed over.

“I’m sure that everything will be provided so that experts can make a proper judgement,” he said.

The ambassador wanted to stress that the missiles fired at the base with US soldiers in Iraq had taken place many hours before the airliner crashed.

Wednesday’s attack on the American bases, which left no causalities, came in retaliation for the US killing of Iran’s top general Qassem Soleimani.

The ambassador said the plane had only taken off five minutes before it came down and had reached an altitude of 8,000 feet. It had requested going up to 20,000 feet and this was granted, “so why should a missile be fired [at the plane]?”, he said.

Mr Baeidinejad said reports that the Iranian authorities had used bulldozers at the crash site and that evidence had been removed or destroyed were “absolutely absurd”.

“There were obviously searches going on. There were lots of bodies, unfortunately, on the ground and of course they were trying to find the black box. We want to find out the truth of what happened, so many of those who so sadly died were Iranian.”