GREEKS REFUSE IRANIAN OIL MINISTER' PLANE TO LAND IN ATHENS

ATHENS-PARIS 22ND Jan. (IPS) An angry Iranian Oil Minister flew back to Tehran from Rome early Saturday morning after Greek authorities had refused his private jet to land in Athens, en route from Tripoli to Damascus.

Highly informed sources told Iran Press Service that at around 4.50 PM Friday, the pilot of a private Falcon jet contacted Ciampino military airport in Rome asking for emergency landing, explaining that it was running short on fuel because the Greek authorities had refused permission to land in Athens.

At first, the sources added, the Italian authorities also refused authorisation, fearing the plane was either hijacked or it was on a terrorist operation mission, but after the pilot insisted that he was carrying VIPs, including an Iranian Minister, permission was granted, but it took another hour before the Falcon could land since the airport was very busy at that time with plenty of Italian dignitaries coming back from Tunisia where they had attended the funeral of Mr. Betino Craxi, the former Italian Prime Minister who died last week in Hamamat, where he was living to escape judicial procedures engaged against him on financial charges.

Mr. Bizhan Namdar-Zanganeh, the Oil Minister and his party were coming from a meeting in Tripoli and were heading for Damascus to discuss with Syrian officials new Iranian loans, but after the incident, he decided to flew back directly to Tehran.

A Greek diplomatic source that asked for anonymity confirmed the incident, saying he could not figure out why the Greek authorities had refused landing permission.

Asked if Tehran had protested to Athens, a spokeswoman at the Iranian Foreign Ministry told IPS that she could not confirm nor deny the information, saying however that the incident had no political significance and could have been caused due to technical problems.

In fact, Tehran and Athens have close working relationship and form a tripartite alliance with Armenia.

Confirming that the Oil Minister was already in Tehran, the spokeswoman speculated that Mr. Namdar-Zanganeh might have decided to change route and come back to Tehran via the Italian Capital. ENDS LANDING REFUSED 22100