Ukraine’s security chief believes the downing of the UIA jet by Iran’s military over Tehran in January 2020 was intentional, rather than an accident as claimed by Iran’s government.

“When they say this was accidental, I don’t buy that,” said Oleksiy Danilov, the Secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense council, in an interview with Canada’s Globe and Mail that was published last Friday. “It was intentional. This was a conscious attack.” Referring to the shootdown that killed all 167 crew and passengers aboard, Danilov added: “Iran does not allow anybody to examine this tragedy, and they postpone or slow down any investigations. The fact that they are investigating themselves is rather surprising, to put it politely.” The Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh responded Saturday by saying that that Iran has “strongly rejected” Danilov’s assertion.