The chairman of the Iranian Civil Aviation Organization (IrCAO), Alireza Jahangirian, has warned that Iran will take legal measures should the United States act on threats to block Mahan Air (W5, Tehran Mehrabad) from operating its recently acquired fleet of Airbus (AIB, Toulouse Blagnac) aircraft abroad.
The Iranian carrier sourced an ex-Sichuan Airlines (3U, Chengdu Shuangliu) A321-200 in addition to a variety of ex-Virgin Atlantic (VS, London Heathrow) metal including seven A340-600s and one A340-300 through its Al-Naser Airlines (Baghdad) proxy in Iraq last month in contravention of international sanctions. The US Government claims Mahan Air works with Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force (IRGC-QF) to ferry operatives, weapons, and funds in support of the Asad regime on its flights to Syria, and also provides transportation services to Lebanese Hizbollah, which has been separately designated as a terrorist group.
As such, the US Treasury Department has listed the aircraft as assets liable for seizure while blacklisting Al Naser Airlines along with Syrian national Issam Shammout and his Ras al Khaimah-based outfit, Sky Blue Bird Aviation, for allegedly facilitating the deal.
"Today's [May 21] identification of the nine aircraft in which Mahan Air has a blockable interest will make it easier for interested parties to keep track of this blocked property, and more difficult for Iran to use deceptive practices to try to evade sanctions," it said.
However, the Iranians have reacted angrily to the threats claiming the US does not have the right to embargo its airlines' flights abroad.
"As long as ... a disruption has not taken place, we cannot make a definite assertion. But if it happens, Iran will take legal action," Jahangirian was quoted by Reuters as telling the Iranian Students' News Agency (ISNA). "America does not have the right to stop our planes on international trips ... Under international laws, it is impossible to seize the new Iranian aircraft."
Mahan Air has already deployed one of the A340-600s, EP-MMH (cn 391), into commercial service on flights to Istanbul Atatürk and Dubai International.
As if to provoke the situation further, Kish Air (KIS, Tehran Mehrabad) has also come out saying it too hopes to acquire ten Boeing (BOE, Washington National) aircraft by March 2016 with three aircraft expected to arrive by the end of this summer. In an anticipation of a break through in talks between Iran and the US-led P5+1 group concerning the former's controversial nuclear programme, Kish Air is also hoping to acquire seven more aircraft directly from the US manufacturer.
