Air defence operator blamed for Iran crash

Iran's civil aviation body blamed a misaligned radar and an error by an air defence operator in a final report on the shooting-down of a Ukrainian passenger plane in January 2020 that killed all 176 people aboard.

The report on the downing of Ukraine International Airlines Flight PS752 "makes no attempt to answer critical questions about what truly happened and appears incomplete", Canada said on Wednesday.

Many of the victims killed in the crash were Canadian citizens or permanent residents.

"There will be no solace for the families because the whole story, the complete story with the hard evidence to back it up is not being provided," added Ralph Goodale, an adviser to Canada's prime minister on PS752.

Ukraine's foreign minister also criticised the report, calling it a cynical attempt by the Islamic Republic authorities to cover up the true reasons for the crash, which Ukraine suspects was intentional.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards shot down the Ukraine International Airlines flight on January 8, 2020 shortly after it took off from Tehran Airport.

The Iranian government later declared the shooting-down was a "disastrous mistake" by forces who were on high alert during a regional confrontation with the United States.

The Iranian report says: "The plane was identified as a hostile target due to a mistake by the air defence operator ... near Tehran and two missiles were fired at it," according to the agency's website.

"The flight's operation did not have a role in creating the error by the air defence battery."

Iran was on edge about possible attacks after it fired missiles at Iraqi bases housing US forces in retaliation for the killing days before of its most powerful military commander, Qassem Soleimani, in a US missile strike at Baghdad Airport.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba lambasted the report, saying on Facebook it was "nothing more than a cynical attempt to hide the true reasons for the downing of our plane".

Iran's investigation did not follow international practice, ignored evidence supplied by Ukraine and drew selective conclusions, Kuleba said.

Ukrainian prosecutors have launched their own investigations into possible wilful killing in connection with the crash.

The Tehran government has allocated $US150,000 for damages to be paid to families of the crash victims and said several people have been put on trial over the disaster.