![A man seen in front of a memorial for the victims of the Ukraine International Airlines Boeing 737-800 crash in the Iranian capital Tehran, at the Boryspil airport outside Kiev on January 8, 2020 [SERGEI SUPINSKY/AFP via Getty Images]](https://i0.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/GettyImages-1192559737.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1)
Iran has agreed to compensate the families of the 176 passengers killed when an Iranian missile struck a Ukrainian airliner, Sweden’s foreign minister said yesterday.
“We have signed an agreement of mutual understanding that we will now negotiate with Iran about amends, compensation to the victims’ next of kin,” Ann Linde told news agency TT in a statement confirmed by her press secretary.
Linde said the agreement had been reached after negotiations with Iran and the countries with citizens among the victims.
In a press conference last month, relatives of victims aboard the Ukrainian civilian airliner downed by Iranian missiles in January claimed their loved ones’ possession had been looted.
The plane was carrying nine crew members, Iranian-Canadian citizens, as well as victims from Sweden, the United Kingdom, Afghanistan and Ukraine.
The Ukrainian plane was shot down shortly after take-off in Tehran, when Iran’s defences were on high alert, hours after Iran fired at US bases in Iraq in retaliation for a US attack that killed an Iranian commander at Baghdad airport.
Iran says the coronavirus crisis has contributed to delays in a probe by its Air Accident Investigation Board.
Read: Iran may offer discounts to lure airlines to fly through its airspace