Taliban Foreign Minister Arrives In Iran For First Official Visit
Taliban's acting foreign minister Amir Khan Muttaqi has arrived in Tehran at the head of a high-ranking delegation to hold talks with senior Iranian officials.
Taliban's acting foreign minister Amir Khan Muttaqi has arrived in Tehran at the head of a high-ranking delegation to hold talks with senior Iranian officials.
The spokesman of Taliban’s ministry of foreign affairs, Abdul Qahar Balkhi, said in a tweet on Saturday afternoon that Muttaqi’s first official visit was upon an invitation from Iran.
During the stay, the Taliban delegation is slated to discuss a wide range of political and economic topics as well as issues related to the transit of goods and Afghan refugees.
Before departing for Tehran, the Afghan delegation held a preliminary meeting in the 19th Century Storai Palace, to assess their agenda of their visit to Iran.
In December, Iran proposed that Muslim states establish a joint fund to help stabilize Afghanistan and prevent a serious crisis from impacting other regional countries.
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian at the time also stated that sustainable calm in Afghanistan is only possible through an inclusive and effective government in which all ethnic and religious groups would be present.
Tehran insists that despite an economic crisis due to US sanctions, it has accepted more than 300,000 Afghan refugees following the collapse of the government in Kabul. However, the International Organization for Migration said in November that Iranian and Pakistani authorities have sent back more than one million Afghan refugees this year.
Families who last year had gathered at the airport on the first anniversary of the tragedy that claimed the lives of all 176 onboard carried photos of their loved ones and posters that read "Compensation Can Never Replace Justice".
Iran’s government announced in December 2020 that all victims would receive the $150,000 compensation but many families have refused to take the money and insist they just want punishment for those responsible for the death of their loved ones.
"Our hearts are still bleeding after two years remembering that night …The truth must come out, it shouldn't be sacrificed to suit the expedience [of politicians]. We insist on truth and justice," the father of one of the victims is seen saying in a speech in a video posted on Twitter.
Victims' families then chanted "Truth, Justice", a slogan that also appeared on their posters.
"Why did you fire missiles at our children? Why did they kill them? Why did they hide the truth about what they had done?" another video shows him saying in his speech while insisting that victims' families wanted the truth to be revealed and those responsible for the order to fire missiles at the airliner be punished, not compensation.
Families later went to the crash site in Shahed Shahr in the southwest of the capital where they were joined by locals who chanted "Truth, Justice" as a helicopter, apparently belonging to security forces, flew overhead.
Ukraine's flight PS752 was shot down by two air-defense missiles fired by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard (IRGC) in the morning of January 8, 2020, as it took off from Tehran’s Imam Khomeini International Airport.
Despite expecting retaliation for IRGC missiles fired at bases in Iraq hosting US troops only hours earlier and expecting a retaliation, the IRGC which is responsible for air defense of the capital did not close the civilian airspace in the early morning hours of 8 January.
For three day the authorities claimed they knew nothing of the real cause of the crash but after an amateur video emerged on social media that showed missiles were fired at the plane, Iran had to admit the military had shot down the plane by “human error”.
Tehran has not allowed an independent investigation or provided full answers to questions by other countries, including Ukraine. The trial of ten low-ranking military personnel began in November. Many among victims' families objected to the trial demanding "the real culprits" to be held accountable.
In May 2021, an association representing the families of victims announced on social media that some families had received an electronic message from the military prosecutor handling the case informing them that high-ranking officials cannot be prosecuted.
Tens of victims were Canadian citizens or lived in Canada where their families gathered at one of the victim's home Friday evening in Toronto.
A spokesperson for Global Affairs Canada in a statement Friday called the downing of the Ukrainian airliner a "Canadian tragedy" and said they "remain committed to seeking answers and pursuing justice".
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau met virtually with the families on Friday. "Our government will not rest in our fight for justice and accountability," he tweeted after the meeting.
Meanwhile, Iran's security forces Saturday arrested a civil rights activist, Yashar Tabrizi, soon after he posted a video of himself remembering the victims at the crash site near Tehran. In the video Tabrizi, a taxi driver, said he had gone there with his family to light a remembrance candle and to demand those responsible to be put on trial.
