IranAir (IR, Tehran Mehrabad) has taken delivery of five more ATR72-600s ahead of an August 7 reimposition of US economic sanctions on Iran.

The Iranian Ministry of Roads and Urban Development (MRUD) said in a statement on Saturday, August 4, that the addition of EP-ITI (msn 1489), EP-ITJ (msn 1494), EP-ITK (msn 1503), EP-ITL (msn 1504), and EP-ITM (msn 1510) would bring the Iranian carrier's overall fleet of ATR72s-600s to 13 out of the twenty originally ordered. Flightradar24 ADS-B data shows the quintet were collectively positioned from Toulouse Blagnac to Urmieh and then on to Tehran Mehrabad over the course of August 4 and 5.

In June, ATR - Avions de Transport Régional chief executive Christian Scherer said the Franco-Italian manufacturer had applied to the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) for permission to deliver the turboprops which Iran Air had already paid for and which were awaiting delivery at the time Washington announced its withdrawal from the JCPOA P5+1 nuclear accords.

As previously noted, Washington's renewed embargo barring the export or re-export to Iran of commercial passenger aircraft and related parts and services comes into effect from midnight August 7.