Germany bans Iranian Mahan Air's flights for ties to IRGC

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Germany will issue a ban on all of Mahan Air flights over the country this week, claiming that the Iranian-state run airway was being used by the country's military and Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

 

The Federal Aviation Office will suspend Mahan's permit, Germany's Suddeutscher Zeitung reported on Monday.

 

The Bild newspaper reported in December that Berlin was considering withdrawing landing rights because the airline was using it to fly "terrorists." Mahan Air denied the claim.

 

Mahan Air has four weekly flights between Germany and Iran. It is privately owned, but its director Hamid Arabnejad Khanooki is said to have links to the IRGC.

 

Tehran has come under increasing pressure in Europe for allegations of the IRGC plotting to assassinate regime opponents in France, Denmark, and the Netherlands. The European Union sanctioned Tehran earlier this month. 

 

The US government alleges that Tehran has used the commercial airline to fly fighters and supplies to Syria to aid the regime of President Bashar al-Assad.