Families ‘deserve truth’ from Iran over plane crash
Tributes were paid to a former London schoolboy, named among the victims, as Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab echoed calls for a thorough inquiry.
Grieving families deserve the “truth” about the cause of the Tehran plane crash, the Foreign Secretary has said, after Western leaders said intelligence suggested the jet was mistakenly shot down by an Iranian missile.
Dominic Raab echoed calls by the Prime Minister and his Canadian counterpart for a thorough investigation into the disaster which killed all 176 people on board the Ukrainian aircraft, saying Iran should “open up” the crash site to international investigators.
Late on Thursday, US officials said the plane appeared to have been unintentionally hit by a surface-to-air missile near Tehran hours after Iran launched ballistic missiles at two US bases in Iraq to avenge the killing of its top general, Qassem Soleimani, in an American air strike.
It came as a teenager who was brought up in south-west London was named as among the victims.
Arad Zarei, 17, who had recently relocated to Canada having attended St Mary’s Primary School in Twickenham until the end of Year 6 in 2014, was said to have been visiting his mother in Iran.
A spokesman for the school said: “Staff and governors at St Mary’s School are shocked and immensely saddened to hear of the tragic death of our past pupil, Arad Zarei, in the recent plane crash.
“Arad attended St Mary’s until 2014 and is remembered fondly by his teachers.
“We wish to extend our prayers and condolences to Arad’s family and friends at this time.”
A spokesman for nearby Orleans Park secondary school said two of Arad’s friends were granted permission to stay at home and grieve following the death, but confirmed Arad was not himself a pupil.
British citizens Sam Zokaei, Saeed Tahmasebi Khademasadi and Mohammad Reza Kadkhoda Zadeh were identified as among the dead on Wednesday.
Mr Tahmasebi’s wife, Niloufar Ebrahim, was also among those killed. She was not yet a British citizen but was planning to settle in the UK with her new husband.
Iran has ruled out a missile strike by its air defences and initially suggested the cause was a fire in one of the plane’s engines.
The country has now invited Boeing to take part in the investigation into the crash after initially refusing to do so, going against prevailing international norms on crash investigations.
US air accident investigators have also been invited to take part, Iranian officials said.
“Our view on the crash underlines why we urgently now need an independent, full and transparent investigation to establish what caused it.
“The Iranian regime must open up to the international community, including access to the crash site, so we can get to the truth as quickly as possible to give the families of the victims an understanding of what happened to their loved ones.
“The families of the victims deserve to know the truth, and we say that whether they’re Canadian families, British families, Ukrainian families, Swedish, German, Afghan.
“And let us not forget the Iranian families because they have suffered the greatest loss of life in this terrible incident and they deserve to know the truth too.
“We urge Iran not to repeat the reckless and dangerous attacks and rather pursue the urgent de-escalation and return to diplomatic dialogue.”
Earlier, Mr Johnson confirmed that four Britons died in the crash – up from initial reports of three.
The Boeing 737-800 plane crashed moments after it left Imam Khomeini International Airport in Tehran at 6.10am local time (2.40am GMT) on Wednesday, bound for the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv.
The airline ruled out human error in the aftermath of the incident, and the crew were not said to have made an emergency call.
