Tasnim – An Iranian deputy foreign minister said international documents and treaties will be the criteria for the sum of compensation that Iran is going to pay the families of victims of a Ukrainian passenger plane crashed near Tehran in January.

In remarks on Tuesday, Deputy Foreign Minister for International and Legal Affairs Mohsen Baharvand reacted to reports that Ukraine would insist on the maximum sum of compensation for the relatives of the jetliner crash victims.

He said Iran would definitely pay the compensation because of the mistaken downing of the plane, but “the criteria for the payment must be defined.”

“We have told the Ukrainian colleagues that our criterion (on paying compensations) is the international documents (and organizations) of which we are a member and to which we are committed,” he underlined.

Baharvand noted that the next round of talks between Iran and Ukraine on compensation for the doomed plane will be held in the first half of October in Tehran.

The Kiev-bound UIA Boeing 737 crashed shortly after taking off from Tehran on January 8, killing all 176 people on board, mostly Iranian and Canadian citizens.

Iran said the plane was hit by an anti-aircraft missile due to human error.