Tehran to pay $150K to families of those killed when Iranian forces downed civilian airliner

Iran will pay $150,000 to the families of the 176 people who were killed when Iranian forces mistakenly shot down a Ukrainian passenger jet in the first days of 2020, the Tehran government said.

Iranian cabinet members agreed Wednesday to allocate the money in dollars or the euro equivalent, to be given "as soon as possible to the families and survivors of each of the victims," Tehran said in a statement. The money likely will be paid before the first anniversary of when the plane was shot down.

The aircraft, Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752, crashed shortly after takeoff Jan. 8 from Tehran's Imam Khomeini International Airport, while headed for Kyiv. All aboard were killed when the plane went down. 

Within days of the incident, Tehran said that jittery military forces fired missiles at the aircraft, believing that it was approaching a sensitive military site. The forces that night were on high alert amid escalating tensions with the United States in the wake of the Jan. 3 drone strike against Iranian Quds Forces commander Qassem Soleimani.

In retaliation for the strike that killed Soleimani, Iran lobbed missiles Jan. 8 against American soldiers in Iraq. Iranian forces that night also shot down Flight 752. 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday awarded the Flight 752 crewmembers the titles of Hero of Ukraine with the Order of the Golden Star.

The United States on Wednesday flew B-52 bomber jets over the Middle East in a show of force amid fresh threats from Iran that it would seek retribution for Soleimani's death.