Risky Business: France Bans Iran’s Mahan Air

UANI Urging Italy & Spain to Follow France & Germany’s Examples

(New York, N.Y.) – For more than 10 years, United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) has pressed governments around the world to take a hard line against Iranian companies by prohibiting operations in their countries. Germany set the standard for Europe by banning Iran’s terrorist airline, Mahan Air, from landing at any German airport. This was an important first step toward permanently grounding Mahan Air, which has been known to transport Iranian weapons and fighters, outside of Iranian air space.

 

This month, the Macron government in France provided fresh evidence of UANI’s successful approach to ensure Iranian businesses have no quarter when it followed Germany by likewise banning Mahan Air from French airports. In announcing the decision, France echoed UANI’s concerns about the airline’s role in supporting the Iranian regime’s malign behavior.

 

Yet there is more work to be done. UANI is presently working to persuade the Italian and Spanish governments and aviation authorities in those countries to take decisive action against Mahan Air’s ability to land within the borders of Europe. Mahan Air still flies to Spain’s Barcelona Airport and Malpenesa Milan Airport in Italy.

 

“Europe has a responsibility to its citizens to end any and all association with Iran, a country that has brazenly spread state-sponsored terror and violence worldwide,” said UANI CEO Mark D. Wallace. “UANI will continue to expose Mahan Air for what it is – a vehicle by which the Iranian regime and its terrorist IRGC branch export fighters and weapons to Syria and potentially Europe.” We cannot wait and watch to see what further horrors Tehran might spread around the world using this airline as its mule. European countries must ban Mahan Air now and make clear that enough is enough.”

 

Mahan Air has been sanctioned by the U.S. for supporting Iran’s foreign expeditionary force, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), and delivering Syria’s Bashar al-Assad the fighters and weapons used to subjugate his people.  According to the U.S. Treasury, “Mahan Air is the airline of choice for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force, facilitating its support to terrorism across the Middle East. Mahan’s regular flights to Syria are used to prop up the Assad regime and deliver weapons, foreign fighters, and Iranian operatives who sow violence and unrest across the region.” The sanctions extend to any third-parties that contract with the airline, posing a risk to European companies and individuals  choosing to do business with it.

 

Worse still, Iran has been implicated in the killings of European citizens on European soil. The Iranian regime controls Mahan Air in all but name, making the airline’s European flights a potential serious threat to European citizens’ continued safety and security.