Antonov Design Bureau (ADB, Gostomel) aircraft have once more been targeted by the Iranian authorities who have now moved to ground all An-74s from operating within the country. According to the Iranian Students' News Agency (ISNA), the managing director of the Iranian Airports Holding Company, Mohammad Ali Ilkhani, on Monday said President Hassan Rouhani had issued an order banning the twinjets from operating within the country.

The only known current operators of the type within the country is the Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force (Tehran Mehrabad) with ten and Yas Air (MHD, Tehran Mehrabad) with one.

A similar ban also grounded all locally-built An-140s following the crash of an Sepahan Airlines (SPN, Isfahan Hesa) IrAn 140 turboprop aircraft, EP-GPA (cn 36525305018), on climb out from Tehran Mehrabad on Sunday, August 10, which killed 39 people on board.

After the United States imposed hard-hitting sanctions following the revolution of 1979, Iran turned to Russian and Ukrainian-built aircraft to help make up for its operational shortfall.

Since then, around 1,800 people have been killed in Iranian air accidents, half of them involving Russian-designed aircraft.