Canada, Sweden, Ukraine and Britain on Thursday vowed that they could consider new steps in line with international law against the Islamic Republic if it failed to respond by Jan 5 to demands for reparations after the downing of a passenger airliner last year.
All 176 people, mostly from those four mentioned countries, died in the incident. The Ukraine International Airlines flight was traveling from Tehran to Kiev.
The four countries created a coordination group that seeks to hold Tehran to account.
"The Coordination Group's patience is wearing thin," it said in a statement, adding that the group had pressed Tehran to open talks on reparations and to deliver justice but said Iran had shown it was reluctant to respond in a timely manner.
It said Iran should respond by Jan 5 or the group would "have to seriously consider other actions to resolve this matter within the framework of international law" but gave no details.
The incident occurred in the tense hours as Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps were carrying out “revenge” attacks on American military bases in Iraq in response to the death of the regime’s top commander Qassem Soleimani a week earlier in US strikes in Baghdad.
A Canadian report accused Iran of orchestrating a cover-up over the incident, including by "bulldozing the crash site before investigators arrived".
