'Iran dithering on crash probe'

KIEV — Iranian investigators probing the downing of a passenger plane a year ago are deliberately dragging their feet, Ukraine International Airlines (UIA) said on Wednesday.

Tehran has admitted its anti-air missiles brought down the plane by mistake on January 8 last year during heightened tension with the US, killing all 176 passengers and crew, including 55 Canadians.

"We haven't got an answer to the main question: how could this happen and who is responsible," UIA chief Yevhenii Dykhne told AFP, saying "the process isn't moving".

"The tactic on the Iranian side is to sweep under the rug, to drag their feet," he said.

"There needs to be more serious pressure from those countries whose citizens died."

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau last month called on Iran to answer questions about the downed plane after an independent Canadian report complained that Iran was "investigating itself, largely in secret".

The report said Iran's probe suffered "obvious conflicts of interest... with few safeguards to ensure independence, impartiality or legitimacy".