OFFICIALS ADMITS PUBLICLY TO THE NEGATIVE IMPACT OF US SANCTIONS
TEHRAN 2 Jan. (IPS) In a new sign of changes in the Islamic Republic, two officials acknowledged on the record that American economic sanctions have had devastating effect on the regime’s flagship airline Iran Air in particular and on the air transportation in general.
"There will be more air disasters if sanctions on buying U.S.-made
planes were not lifted", warned Transport Minister Ahmad Khorram.
He made the "confessions" in the Majles, explaining the recent crushes of Russian and Ukrainian-made passenger planes leased to or operated by Iranian air transport companies, killing hundreds of passengers and crews and causing uproar among Iranian.
For his part, Mr. Davood Keshavarzian, Managing Director of Iran National Air Line "HOMA", or Iran Air, confirmed that that sanctions on airplane purchases was the most important impediment facing civil aviation in Iran.
This is the first time that senior Iranian officials reckons publicly that American economic embargo has had negative impact, breaking with the official line that consists of affirming that the US boycott had no impact on the Iranian economy.
The last air crush in Iran occurred ten days ago after an Antonov-140 that was carrying 47 Ukrainian engineers, scientists and official to take part at the inauguration ceremonies of the maiden flight of a similar model assembled in Iran under the name of Iran-140 crushed few miles before Esfahan, in central Iran.
The United States cut all relations with the newly proclaimed Islamic Republic of Iran on November 1979 and imposed an economic boycott after revolutionary Iranian students stormed the American embassy in Tehran and kept 55 American diplomats and staff as hostages for 444 days.
The sanctions, though unilateral, nevertheless had a disastrous impact on Iranian economy, particularly on the nation’s vital oil and gas industries, lowering the crude production capacity to near 4 millions barrels per day instead of the more than 6 millions bpd before the revolution.
"If sanctions on purchase of (Boeing) planes and spare parts are not lifted, problems of Iran's air industry will exacerbate", the Minister told lawmakers, adding that normalising relations with outside world would end Iran Air’s problems.
He was referring to relations with Washington, but observers said he deliberately refrained from naming the United States because of the veto imposed on the issue by Ayatollah Ali Khameneh'i, the leader of the Islamic Republic.
However, a recent poll showed that more than 74 per cent of Iranians are for resuming ties with Washington and that only 1.2 per cent of them consider Mr. Khameneh'i as a wise, able and credit-worthy politician.
"Sanctions prevent Iran from purchasing aircraft, even if only 10 percent of the parts are US-made" Mr. Keshavarzian told the official Iranian news agency IRNA, disclosing that a plan to buy four Airbus passenger planes from France was cancelled because of US sanctions.
He said that after the visit by Iranian President Mohammad Khatami to Paris in 2000, Iran Air concluded a contract with France to buy four Airbus planes, but was prevented from finalizing the deal until "appropriate conditions are prepared", meaning obtaining authorisation from the US Administration, due to the fact that certain parts of the Airbuses are American-made.
"Because of US economic sanctions, the Islamic Republic is not currently able to buy Western-made airplanes. The sanctions have also created a major obstacle to renovating the Iranian air fleet, Keshavarzian acknowledged.
Iran Air has not had so far a major crash on its foreign routes as a result of pilot error or technical difficulties.
Several of Iran's aging Boeing and Airbus planes have been grounded because of technical problems and lack of spare parts, Khorram said, warning that he should not be held responsible if more planes crashed in Iran.
"Because of lack of proper planes, there is no possibility of replacing them if there are technical problems. If such fundamental issues are not resolved, we will meet more serious problems and I should not be held responsible", the Minister said, observing that Iran's aging fleet was more than two decades old and has "reached a crisis point".
Iran has a total of about 80 working passenger planes, a veteran Iran pilot told The Associated Press speaking on condition of anonymity. About 30 to 40 of those are Russian-made Tupolovs, 10 others are Fokkers from the Netherlands, and the rest are Airbus and ageing Boeings. In the mid-90s, Iran purchased 2 or 3 aged Airbus planes from Turkey. ENDS IRAN AIR 2103