Iran announced Monday that it will cease cooperating with Ukraine on the investigation surrounding a Ukraine International Airlines plan which crashed last month near Tehran, Israel Hayom reported.
The plane, which crashed after being shot down by the Iranian military, had 176 people aboard the plane - at least 130 of them Iranian citizens. There were no survivors.
The announcement comes two days after a secret conversation between the plane's supervisor in Tehran's airport and the pilot of an Iranian plane which was flying near the doomed craft moments before it was hit, and saw the missile moving towards it, Israel Hayom said.
In the secret conversation, the Iranian pilot can be heard saying he sees a row of lights, like a missile, and then an explosion. After the conversation was leaked, Iran said it would cease sharing information with Ukraine.
Meanwhile, the recording of the conversation has been transferred to Ukrainian investigators.
Iran initially denied shooting down the plane, claiming the crash had been due to technical issues, but soon admitted that its military had shot the plane down on purpose, in an "unforgivable mistake." Shortly afterwards, Iran began cooperating with Ukraine in an effort to expedite the investigation of the crash.
Hasan Rezaeefar, one of the heads of Iran's Civil Aviation Organization, said: "The Ukrainian plane's technical investigative staff, in a strange move, publicized a secret voice file of a pilot in a plane flying parallel to the Ukrainian plane. This action on the part of the Ukrainians has led to us sharing any more information with them.