• ‘It’s not yet clear which country the black box will go to for the investigation’
• It is the right of a country where air crashes occur to carry out the investigation

TEHRAN: Iran’s aviation authority said it would not hand over to Americans the recovered black boxes of a Boeing 737 that crashed Wednesday, killing all 176 passengers and crew.

“We will not give the black boxes to the manufacturer (Boeing) and the Americans,” Iran Civil Aviation Organization head Ali Abedzadeh said, quoted by Mehr news agency.

“It’s not yet clear which country the black box will go to for the investigation,” he added.

Following the crash of Ukraine International Airlines flight PS752 shortly after takeoff from Tehran on Wednesday, Iran said it had recovered the Boeing 737’s two black boxes.

Abedzadeh said that based on global aviation rules, it was the right of the country where air crashes occur to carry out the investigation.

“This accident will be investigated by Iran’s aviation organization but the Ukrainians can also be present during the incident’s investigation,” he added.

Under the rules of the International Civil Aviation Organization, of which Iran, Ukraine and the United States are all members, air crash investigations are led by the country where the accident occurred.

However, according to aviation experts, the countries that are capable of analyzing black boxes are few — notably Britain, France, Germany and the United States.

France’s Accident Investigation Bureau, which handles air crash investigations, said it had not received any request for help from the Iranian authorities after Wednesday’s crash.

The airline has suspended flights to Tehran indefinitely. Ukrainian prime minister Oleksiy Valeriyovych Honcharuk later on Wednesday said a total flight ban to Iran would start on Thursday, January 9.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, who earlier cancelled his trip to Oman, expressed his condolences to relatives of those killed, adding embassy officials were clarifying circumstances of the tragedy.

Eleven Ukrainian citizens perished in the Iran plane crash, including nine crew, the Ukraine Security Council said. Ukraine foreign minister Vadym Volodymyrovych Prystaiko added there were also three Britons, 10 Swedes, 82 Iranians and 63 Canadians on board the ill-fated flight.

Agencies