Canada must hold Iran accountable for downing of Ukrainian airliner

Canada has had enough. The same goes for Sweden, Britain, and Ukraine. The four countries recently announced that they would no longer negotiate for reparations from Iran for its downing of a Ukrainian airliner two years ago.

Tehran, they noted, “is now categorically rejecting any further negotiations.” Additional attempts at dialogue, they argued, are “futile.” As a result, they asserted in a joint statement, they will impose unspecified remedies pursuant to international law.

The decision by the four-member coalition, which calls itself the International Co-ordination and Response Group, is common sense. The clerical regime, after all, not only continues to spurn meaningful dialogue. It dismisses compelling evidence that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC)—the paramilitary force tasked with advancing Iran’s Islamist ideology—shot down the plane intentionally.

It is now clear that if Ottawa and its partners wish to achieve justice for the victims, they must impose harsher penalties on Iran. To date, however, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has tried to avoid antagonizing the Islamic Republic, limiting himself to tough rhetoric while abjuring tough policies. The actions he now takes—or fails to take—in response to Tehran’s rejection of negotiations will mark a key test of his resolve.

On Jan. 8, 2020, two Tor-M1 surface-to-air missiles struck Ukraine International Airlines flight PS752 minutes after it departed Tehran’s international airport, killing all 176 people on board, including 85 Canadian citizens and permanent residents, as well as dozens of Brits, Swedes, Ukrainians, and other nationals. Iran’s civil aviation authority subsequently blamed the tragedy on “human error,” maintaining that the plane “was misidentified as a hostile target by an air defence unit.”

But Tehran’s narrative lacks credibility. In fact, in a November 2021 report, the Association of Families of Flight PS752 Victims noted that Tehran’s “intentional act of keeping Iranian airspace open, the technical capabilities of the Tor-M1 surface-to-air missile system and Iran’s integrated air defence network in detecting hostile targets, the positioning of the Tor-M1 system near Tehran’s international airport, the systematic concealment of the root cause of the crash, the destruction of existing evidence, and Iran’s misleading reports, all indicate that the downing of Ukraine International Airlines flight 752 was deliberate.”

Ukraine has validated this allegation. “What happened on Jan. 8, 2020, was a terrorist act committed against a civilian aircraft,” Oleksiy Danilov, Ukraine’s National Defense and Security Council secretary, said earlier this year.

Canada’s justice system has made a similar determination. In May 2021, Ontario judge Edward Belobaba ruled that the shootdown was “intentional” and “an act of terrorism.” Last month, he awarded $107-million, plus interest, to the families of six victims. Unfortunately, Canada will likely prove unable to seize significant quantities of Iranian assets, since most reside in overseas accounts.

The burden now falls on the shoulders of the Trudeau government. Admittedly, the prime minister’s ability to change Iranian behaviour remains limited. Still, Canada can wage a diplomatic campaign that would increase Iran’s international isolation and further delegitimize the Islamist regime.

In its November report, the Association of Families of Flight PS752 Victims provides important recommendations that would help achieve these goals. For instance, the publication urges Canada to refer Iran to the Council of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), the UN agency that sets global aviation standards. ICAO manages the implementation of the 1944 Convention on International Civil Aviation, also known as the Chicago Convention, which prohibits attacks on civilian aircraft. If an airline fails to comply with a Council decision, the convention requires other countries to bar the offending nation from using their airspace. Likewise, the offender would lose ICAO voting rights.

The report also calls upon the RCMP to launch a criminal investigation of the shootdown. For reasons that remain unclear, the RCMP—despite pleas by families of the victims—has not accepted an offer by Ukraine, the only country conducting a criminal probe of the shootdown, to participate in a joint inquiry. Instead, the RCMP has merely assisted Ukraine’s efforts, devoting more than 120 RCMP personnel to conduct interviews, among other steps.

But families of the victims have criticized the pace and transparency of the RCMP’s collaboration. Hamed Esmaeilion, a spokesperson for the association who lost his wife and nine-year-old daughter on flight PS752, said Ukrainian officials told him that “co-operation has not been great.” In fact, Esmaeilion said, the RCMP has yet to send Ukraine information about an interview with him from one year ago.

The RCMP must ramp up its efforts. Moreover, Ottawa should take action against the individuals and institutions liable for the shootdown of PS752. For example, Canada should designate the IRGC as a terrorist organization. It should impose global Magnitsky sanctions on the IRGC members who conducted or oversaw the downing. And it should seek the submission of the case to the International Criminal Court.

By taking these steps, Trudeau can demonstrate that his denunciations of Tehran constitute more than merely rhetoric. Iran must pay, one way or another.

Tzvi Kahn is a research fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a Washington, D.C.-based, non-partisan research institute focusing on national security and foreign policy. Follow him on Twitter @TzviKahn.