Civil Aviation sector of Iran is getting affected by sanctions gradually. After the Emtrasur B747 detention issue, that was linked to Mahan Air and Iranian Crew , now , Iran is going to stop it's Flights by all Iranian carriers to Malaysia as of Saturday , August 23rd , due to the impact of sanctions on refueling Iranian planes.
As per the sources from Iran's semi-official Workers' News Agency (ILNA) , Secretary of Iran's Aviation Companies Association Maghsoud Asadi-Samani said that the last Iranian flight to Kuala Lumpur will be operated by Mahan Airlines, which was the only airliner apart from flag carrier Iran Air with the capability of direct flights to Malaysia because of the long distance.
The Iranian company Mahan Air was sanctioned by the US in 2008 for links to the Quds (Qods) Force of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard .
Noting that Malaysian airports do not provide fuel to Iranian planes anymore, he said that fueling companies at Malaysian airports work with US companies, and these companies have been informed that they will be subject to punitive measures if they keep fueling the Islamic Republic’s planes.
Describing it as yet another blow that hit the country's aviation industry due to the US sanction, he said domestic airlines will lose the revenues of passenger transportation on this route, and “we will lose one of the bases in Southeast Asia.”
Before the Covid-19 pandemic hit the world, demand for this route was high, and two to three flights were made per week, but during the health crisis, flights to Malaysia were temporarily suspended, and after that, there was only one flight per week.
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Earlier , in the month of June , the Venezuelan Emtrasur B747 (YV3531) , an ex-Mahan Air aircraft was seized in Buenos Aires , after the US Government passed information to the Argentine Government to comply with the sanctions against the two Iranian companies, on the lists of sanctioned entities.
US authorities have blacklisted the four-engined freighter because they argue it has been involved in deeds in breach of sanctions. The US-built airplane had been transferred from Iran's Mahan Air to Venezuela's Emtrasur (a cargo subsidiary of flag carrier Conviasa). Both countries are targeted by US embargoes and sanctions.
Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has recently said ,
“We are going to carry out a big campaign from Venezuela against sanctions, against criminal persecution, for the recuperation of gold in London, and for the rescue and release of our pilots and the Conviasa plane that belongs to Venezuela”
Under the previous President Donald Trump, the Washington administration unilaterally withdrew from the nuclear agreement, called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, in 2018 , and introduced heavy sanctions against Iran, including the civil aviation sector.
With the Joe Biden administration in the USA, Washington and Tehran started indirect talks to return to the nuclear agreement through the European Union (EU) as of April 2021, but - until now - a final agreement could not be reached.
