DUBAI: Ten officials have been indicted in Iran over the 2020 military shootdown of a Ukrainian passenger plane that killed 176 people, an Iran prosecutor said Tuesday. The announcement coming just as Tehran begins indirect negotiations with the West over its collapsed nuclear deal with world powers.

Tehran military prosecutor Gholamabbas Torki avoided naming those responsible when he announced the indictments Tuesday while handing over his office to Nasser Seraj. The semiofficial ISNA news agency and the Iranian judiciary's Mizan news agency both reported his remarks.  

Last month, Iran's Civil Aviation Organization (CAO) published its final report on the Ukrainian passenger plane's crash, identifying a "mistake" by the air defense operator as the cause of the incident.

"The plane was identified as a hostile target by the operator of an air defense system stationed around Tehran, and two missiles were fired at it," the CAO said in the preface of its 285-page report.

The Ukrainian aircraft, a Boeing 737-800, was shot down on January 8, 2020 shortly after taking off from Tehran by Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps with two missiles, killing all 176 people on board.

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