Tehran, Iran, June 6
By Kamyar Eghbalnejad - Trend:
Iran Air Managing Director Farzaneh Sharafbafi called on the International Air Transport Association (IATA) to support Iran in the face of impending US sanctions.
"In order to increase its cooperation with the IATA in the area of flight safety and security, the Airline of the Islamic Republic of Iran should not be targeted by the new US sanctions," Sharafbafi said during a recent meeting with the head of IATA in Sydney, IRNA news agency reports on June 6.
She was in the Australian capital to attend the 74th IATA Annual General Meeting. The summit brought some 1,000 delegates and media to Sydney on June 3-5.
Sharafbafi further voiced criticism against US President Donald Trump’s efforts to re-impose sanctions against Iran, and called on the trade association of the world’s airlines to find ways out of the sanctions.
On May 8, Trump announced that Washington was leaving the nuclear agreement, which was reached in 2015 between Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council - the US, Britain, France, Russia and China - plus Germany.
Trump also said he would reinstate US nuclear sanctions on Iran and impose "the highest level" of economic bans on the Islamic Republic. The US sanctions have a 180-day period during which buyers should “wind down” purchases.
The managing director of Iran Air also held talks with the CEO of Qatar Airways, Akbar Al Baker, who sits on the board of the Heathrow Airport and is the new head of industry body of the International Air Transport Association (IATA).
The sides explored ways to reroute Qatari flights over Iranian airspace after Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt launched a blockade on June 5 last year to pressure Qatar to change its policies.
Saudi Arabia sealed shut Qatar's only land border and the UAE blocked shipments from its ports to Qatar, but the government in Doha quickly moved to reroute supplies through ports in Oman and India. Rather than rely on imports from its Arab neighbors, Qatar looked to Iran and Turkey to plug the gaps.
