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Payman Parseyan says he's filled with anger at the news his home country's government is believed to be responsible for the deadly plane crash that killed several of his friends.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told reporters Thursday that Canada has intelligence from multiple sources that indicates an Iranian surface-to-air missile shot down the Ukrainian jetliner that crashed after takeoff in Tehran on Wednesday. He said it may have been unintentional.

Iranian officials have denied the allegation. Ali Abedzadeh, the head of Iran's Civil Aviation Organization, called it "illogical" and "impossible," the semi-official ISNA News Agency reported.

All 176 people on the flight died. Of those, 138 were bound for Canada, 63 were Canadian citizens, and at least 31 were Albertans.

Parseyan, a member of Edmonton's Iranian-Canadian community, spoke to As It Happens host Carol Off. Here is part of their conversation.

How are you taking the news today that this plane was likely shot down by an Iranian missile?

Part of me says this wasn't as much of a surprise as it might seem. Part of me is very angry that this would happen. And most of me is just, like, we're not going to get our friends back. The "why" doesn't matter. It's the "what."

Given that this was the country of birth of many of these people, or the country where their families come from and still are ... does that compound this tragedy?

It's the hypocrisy of the regime that just drives me crazy. Because they continually bring up in the 1980s when the Americans shot down the passenger jet that came from Iran, and that tragic incident that occurred at that time.

And now that they're the culprits behind something similar, instead of standing up and being accountable or saying, you know, "Based on the heightened tensions, there was a malfunction of our equipment" or whatever caused it ... they're cowering and hiding.

[They're] hindering American resources and Boeing's request for reviewing the black box or important flight recorder data. They're not playing ball with other countries that want to come in and help facilitate an independent and accountable and transparent investigation to ensure that investigators get to the bottom of this in an appropriate manner.

Candles and photos of the victims were placed on the steps of the Alberta Legislature in commemoration of the tragedy. (Zahra Premji/CBC)

Canadians have been hearing the stories, the absolutely extraordinary stories, of people whom we've lost in this country, and some who were visiting this country. And I want to ask you, in particular, about one of your friends, Pedram Moussavi and his family. Can you tell us about them?

I can't think of a time when I saw Pedram and we didn't laugh more than a quarter or half of the conversation. He was always a happy guy, always positive. He was always willing to help and willing to listen.

His lovely little girls, they were always playing together. Anytime we would see each other at, say, one of the local Persian restaurants, one of his girls were always ask questions on, like, how the food is made or what's going on.

His wife [Mojgan Daneshmand] was such a leader in her position [as an engineering professor]. ... When she came in the room and smiled, like, the whole room didn't have any other permission but to smile. Everyone had to smile with her in a very bright and good sense.

Victims of the Ukraine International Airlines crash in Iran, University of Alberta professors Mojgan Daneshmand and Pedram Mousavi, pose in an undated family photo in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. (Family photo/Reuters)

You lost other friends as well.

Saba and Sara [Saadat] were were such bright lights in our youth community. Saba helped co-found the youth association, the first ever for our community.

Their mom [Dr. Shekoufeh Choupannejad] was this dominant community figure that was, like, looked up to her co-workers [in medicine].

Shekoufeh Choupannejad, centre, with her daughters Saba, left, and Sara Saadat. (Supplied by Mehdi Hashemi)

You have been playing in the past two days such a large role in speaking for Iranian-Canadians from Edmonton, keeping us connected. You've been so generous about that and helping them and helping us understand it. But for yourself, having these losses, how are you processing that?

Doing some of these interviews helps keep my mind off of it affecting me personally. And so it helps create a barrier for me from hitting those emotions. But, you know, I hit some of those emotions in two or three of the interviews yesterday, and shed a few tears for my friends. It's tough.

Have you had time, yourself, to process this, given how much you're trying to do to help others?

I don't know if someone can ever fully process what what we lost. But I recognize that we are a strong community that needs to continue to always progress and push forward. And so that means that we have to, at some point, accept that our friends will not be with us, but they would want us to stand up and move the community forward.

Edmonton's Payman Parseyan reflects on the 'devastation' after learning people he knew were killed in the Iran plane crash 7:08

We spoke with many people who were saying their mothers and fathers are [in Iran] as they came here to study or to work. So many sad reunions, I would imagine, are anticipated now.

My heart burns for the families of the people that are still there, and they have to live with this, and their family will never come back.

This is why the recent news from today must be even more disheartening, knowing that it didn't have to happen like this.

Do you feel that Canada is doing all it can to push Iran to get to the bottom of what happened?

I don't think so. I think they should have listed the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organization long ago.

The vast majority on that flight was Canada-bound. We have a vested interest in that flight, and with the allegations that the Iranian government is potentially responsible for downing it means that the Iranian government is directly responsible for taking the lives of 138 people bound for this country.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps ... is the organization that's [most likely] to have fired the missile, [according to Economist defence editor Shashank Joshi, who spoke with As It Happens on Thursday.]

I can't express the anger I feel. This is the same organization in Iran that is responsible for killing its own citizens in the protests that happened two months ago. It's the same organization responsible for the Quds Force, which was the force that backs dictators like [Syrian President] Bashar al-Assad, and it spreads terrorism through those proxy groups like Hezbollah and Hamas.

And so for the same group to be responsible for the deaths of many of our fellow citizens ... it's upsetting to hear it.

For the deaths of your friends.

They've been responsible for deaths of my personal family members in Iran prior to this incident.

I can't reiterate the amount of action that we should be taking against this organization and their illicit activities.

And it's so unfortunate, because many Iranians won't mention this ... because if they do, that same organization, if they ever travelled to Iran, would show up and arrest them. And God knows what will happen to them when they're taken away or where they'll go.

Written by Sheena Goodyear with files from CBC News. Interview produced by Chris Harbord. Q&A has been edited for length and clarity.