Germany bans Iranian airline from airspace after US pressure
Mahan Air’s licence is revoked because it was transporting military equipment and personnel to Syria and other Middle East war zones
Berlin — Germany has revoked the licence of an Iranian airline because it has been transporting military equipment and personnel to Syria and other Middle East war zones, the foreign ministry said on Monday, after heavy US pressure on Berlin to act. The US imposed sanctions on Mahan Air in 2011, saying it provided financial and other support to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards, and has been pressing its European allies to follow suit. The German ban on the airline takes immediate effect, a foreign ministry spokesman said. Contacted by Reuters, Mahan Air in Tehran said it could not comment immediately on the ban. The measure does not signal plans for the reimposition of broader sanctions against Iran, a German government source told Reuters. Mahan Air, established in 1992 as Iran’s first private airline, has the country’s largest fleet of aircraft and has flights to a number of European countries, including France, Italy, Spain and Greece. The US ambassador in Berlin, Richard Gren...
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