Ottawa - (AFP) - Four countries, led by Canada, announced Wednesday that they had demanded that Tehran conduct a binding arbitration in order to "hold Iran accountable" for the downing of the Ukrainian Boeing, nearly three years after the disaster.

Canada, Ukraine , Sweden and Britain based their arbitration request on the Montreal Convention of 1971, which regulates the settlement of crimes against civil aviation.

The agreement stipulates that if the parties do not agree to organize an independent arbitration within six months, the dispute can be submitted to the International Court of Justice, the highest court in the United Nations, based in The Hague.

"The relatives of the victims of Flight BS752 that was shot down by Iran deserve justice," Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Jolie said on Twitter.

"This week we took an important step toward that goal, and we will continue to work together to hold Iran accountable for this tragedy," she added.
For his part, a spokesman for the Association of Victims' Families, Hamid Ismailiyun, said in a video clip posted on Twitter that this was an "important step," adding, "Today is a day we have waited for so long."

On January 8, 2020, the Iranian Armed Forces shot down a Ukrainian Airlines Boeing plane connecting Tehran to Kiev, killing 176 passengers, mostly Iranians and Canadians.

It was not until three days later that the authorities admitted that they had shot down the plane "accidentally".

The countries accuse the Iranian Revolutionary Guard of firing two surface-to-air missiles at the plane "illegally and deliberately".

Countries have been negotiating with Iran for a long time to pay compensation to the families of the victims.