Iran is to pay $150,000 to victim families of a Ukraine plane crash that took place near Tehran early this year.

The Iranian government has decided the amount of compensation payable to families of victims of a Ukrainian plane crash days before the first anniversary of the incident that happened near Tehran in January this year at the height of military tensions between Iran and the United States.

A Wednesday statement by the Iranian government’s office for legal affairs said that it had been agreed in a Cabinet session earlier in the day that families of the 176 victims of the Ukraine International Airlines plane crash should be compensated with $150,000 or its equivalent in the euro currency.

The statement published in the official IRNA news agency said that the sum had been calculated based on the accepted international norms for such payments.

It said the sum should be available for payment to the families as soon as possible and the payments should be done considering the existing legal facts and documents.

The statement said the Cabinet had agreed that the nationality of the families of the victims or the laws of their respected countries should not cause any discrimination in the payment process.

While offering its renewed condolence and sympathy to these families, the (Iranian) Presidency’s Legal Department hopes the compensation could highlight the commitment to safeguarding the rights of all members of the nation and (the need) for respect and dignity of the humans, said the statement.

The announcement comes just more than a week before the first anniversary of the plane crash, an incident that came on January 8 this year after Iranian air defense forces who were on high alert over a potential US attack accidentally shot down the plane just minutes after it took off from a capital near Tehran.

Many of the victims of the crash were Iranian nationals who were travelling to Canada via Ukraine’s capital Kiev for the purpose of work or study.