Iran says European insurers should pay compensation for downed Ukrainian plane

Iran will not compensate Ukraine International Airlines for its plane Tehran accidentally downed in January because the passenger jet was insured by European firms, the head of Iran's Central Insurance Organisation said on Monday. "The Ukrainian plane is insured by European companies in Ukraine and not by Iranian (insurance) companies," said Gholamreza Soleimani, according to the Young Journalists Club news website affiliated with state TV. "Therefore, compensation should be paid by those European companies." Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards shot down the Ukraine International Airlines flight with a ground-to-air missile on Jan. 8 just after the plane took off from Tehran, in what Tehran later acknowledged as a “disastrous mistake” by forces who were on high alert during a confrontation with the United States. Soleimani's comments concerned the aircraft and did not address potential compensation for victims' families. There was no immediate comment from European aviation insurers.<br/>