September 01, 2017
New evidence showing an Iran Air passenger plane being used to ferry fighters to Syria is being cited by hardliners in Congress this month to try to spike the sale of new aircraft to the Iranian national airline.
A photo published last month shows men purportedly in the Fatemiyoun Brigade, the organization of Afghan fighters recruited and trained by Iran, on a flight said to be headed for Damascus. The logo of Iran Air is visible on a headrest in the background of the photo.
One condition of the US Treasury licenses issued for the sale of Airbuses and Boeings to Iran Air is that the airline not do business with the Pasdaran, such as flying men and military supplies to Syria.
The photo not only suggests problems for the aircraft sale, but also involves Iran in a potential violation of UN Security Council Resolution 2231, which prohibits Iran from exporting weapons.
The Free Beacon, a very conservative news website, said it has a copy of a letter congressmen have sent to the Treasury demanding new sanctions on Iran, including a ban on the sale of aircraft to Iran Air.
It reported the letter said, “Iran’s use of commercial aircraft for military purposes violates international agreements as well as Iranian commitments under the JCPOA,” the nuclear agreement. “The United States should suspend current and future licenses for aircraft sales to Iran.”
The photo accompanying this article was posted by the Twitter account #warreports, which said it was dated January 3. The photo does not itself establish the men on board are fighters bound for Syria, but #warreports posted a second photo showing the men in the aircraft seats on the ground holding rifles and wearing military uniforms.
Iran Air used to make frequent flights to Damascus for the Pasdaran but was understood to have halted them years ago so as not to attract international attention and retribution. Mahan Air and some other Iranian airlines continued such flights. It isn’t clear why Iran Air would resume such flights while it was ordering Boeings and Airbuses. Other airlines in Iran can easily fly all the flights the Pasdaran need, so there is no need to resort to Iran Air.
