January 10-2014
The US Commerce Department issued a rare emergency order Monday aimed at blocking the illegal re-export to Iran of two large, used US-built commercial jet engines by a Turkish company.
Assistant Commerce Secretary David Mills, who oversees export enforcement, signed the order Friday after learning that Turkish-based 3K Aviation Consulting & Logistics planned to re-export two engines built by General Electric Co to Iran this week using Pouya Airline, an Iranian cargo airline.
The order, which will be in effect for 180 days, includes sweeping consequences for 3K Aviation, Pouya Airline and Adaero International Trade, the American company that the department said had shipped the used aircraft engines to Turkey.
The order bans all three companies and their key officers from engaging in negotiations, trade, transport or other activities involving any US export-controlled items, not just the aircraft engines in question.
The order also applies to banks, insurance companies and other parties that might be involved in financing or otherwise supporting any such transactions.
The department only issues one or two such orders a year, one Commerce Department official told Reuters.
Sadettin Ilgin, managing director of Adaero International, which is based in Illinois, denied any wrongdoing, and said he had been in touch with US and Turkish authorities to clear his company’s name.
Ilgin told Reuters the company had documentation showing that it sold the engines, which came from Turkish Airlines, to International Aerospace Group, a US-based company, for $4.1 million, and then shipped them from Istanbul, Turkey, to Frankfurt, Germany, in late December.
He said he had expected the engines to be sent to Russia for use by Siberian Air and was shocked when he received the US order aimed at blocking their transfer to Iran.
“We did not sell the engines to 3K,” said Ilgin, who worked for Turkish Airlines for 40 years. “This was all done properly and we have the paperwork to show it.”
Ilgin said Turkish officials had assured him that they had denied permission for Pouya Airline to pick up the engines in Antalya in southwestern Turkey. Officials at 3K told him they planned to send the engines back to Germany, he told Reuters.
In signing the order, Mills said the department’s Bureau of Industry and Security had presented evidence that two GE CF6 engines were transported to 3K Aviation in Turkey on behalf of Adaero International and that 3K planned to send the engines to Iran using Pouya Airline on January 7.
Two sources familiar with the aircraft engine market said the engines were likely intended for use on Airbus planes operated by Iran.
