In a series of tweets on Sunday, Champagne said an additional eight visas had been approved by Iran. He also tweeted that three officials from the rapid deployment team had flown to Iran on Saturday to set up a base of operations, according to Reuters.
The other eight officials would be traveling to Iran today. “We expect the (team) to be fully in place to do their important work by Jan 14,” Champagne said.
Update on #PS752.
Summary: More visas being issued by Iran today. We expect the Standing Rapid Deployment Team (SRDT) to be fully in place to do their important work by January 14.
— François-Philippe Champagne (FPC) (@FP_Champagne) January 12, 2020
Two of the eight visas are for members of the Canadian Transportation Safety Board. The agency is expected to send a team of investigators specializing in downloading and analyzing aircraft recorder data at a later date, according to Global News. The TSB said it would also be providing an update on its role in the crash investigation at 2 p.m. ET Monday.
All this has come about a day after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he spoke with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, according to the New York Times, and demanded a “full and complete” investigation be conducted. Trudeau told Rouhani it was “absolutely necessary” Canada be a part of the investigation and he expects “full cooperation” from Iran.
Trudeau also said that as Iran has taken responsibility for the downing of the Ukrainian aircraft, it is “likely that they will be full participants and fully allow a credible, independent, international investigation with all partners involved.”
