Five foreign ministers echoed calls from Canada to make Iran accountable for its accidental downing of a Ukrainian Boeing 737-800 jet last week that took the lives of all 176 passengers, including the crew.
According to BBC, ministers of Canada, United Kingdom, Afghanistan, Sweden, and Ukraine came together on Thursday in London to call on Iran for "closure, accountability, transparency and justice for the victims."
On behalf of the other foreign ministers, Canadian Foreign Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne argued that the victims' families, as well as countries grieving for the loss of their citizens, need answers from Iran.
"The world is waiting for those answers and we will not rest until we get them," Champagne said. The meeting took place at the Canadian High Commission where the ministers lit memorial candles for the victims.
While Ottawa has been leading the way in calling for more transparent answers from the Iranian government, analysts believe the united call of other foreign ministers will further put pressure on Tehran.
The calls were only strengthened after the Canadian government kicked off investigations on the allegations that Iran had been pressuring some victims' families to not repatriate the remains of their deceased loved ones.
The ministers who met in London are said to be considering what legal options are available so the Iranian government can be held accountable for the jet's downing. Iran initially denied involvement in the crash but after mounting pressure from Canada, the government finally revealed that the tragedy took place due to "human error."
Iran argued that its Revolutionary Guards accidentally shot down the Ukrainian Boeing jet for a "cruise missile" as tensions with the United States ensued. The plane was downed hours after the country-launched missiles on two Iraqi bases where American troops were housed.
Tehran also initially said it will not surrender the black boxes recovered from the crash site but after its admission of downing the Ukrainian airliner, it welcomed other countries to take part in investigations.
At that time, head of Iran's Civil Aviation Organization, Ali Abedzadeh, reiterated that Boeing and the White House will not have a say in the probe that should look into the full details of the tragedy.
Despite its initial hardline stance on the matter, Tehran gave in as Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau continued to call on more action from the Iranian side regarding questions on why the passenger jet was shot down.
On Wednesday, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani finally took to the public to address the issue, calling out the country's Revolutionary Guards to "explain to people" why the commercial plane was mistakenly shot down, Business Insider reported.
Analysts said Tehran might be having a hard time managing the details of the crash, which left it with no choice but to put its military troop under the bus. It remains to be seen how the current situation will materialize amid increasing scrutiny from global governments.
