Official dismisses sanctions on air industry

Senior Iranian aviation officials said western sanctions have failed to stop international flights of Iran's national carrier. Managing-Director of Iran's national airline (Iran Air) Farhad Parvaresh said his airline is conducting flights on a routine basis and western restrictions have been unable to disrupt Iran Air flights. He further pointed out that although 13 European destinations refuse to supply jet fuel to Iranian airliners due to the US pressures, his airline has not stopped any of its international flights. Parvaresh said despite some problems such as flight delays, Iranian travelers support the airline and buy its tickets for international flights. "Although western pressures against the Islamic Republic aviation industry in the last 30 years have increased some costs for the Iranian airlines, they have also caused a boost in the capability of the country's aerial specialists", the official added. Iran started hiking up its jet fuel production capacity after US President Barack Obama signed into law the toughest ever US sanctions on Iran aimed at choking off Tehran's access to imports of refined petroleum products like jet fuel and curbing its access to the international banking system. After the endorsement of the legislation, Obama in hostile remarks said that the measures, which came on top of new UN Security Council and European sanctions, showed "we are striking at the heart of the Iranian government's ability to fund and develop its nuclear programs". In July, the European Union closed its airspace to most of Iran Air's jets just four days after the US imposed the most comprehensive package of sanctions on Tehran. The EU decision came after BP stopped selling aviation fuel to Iran Air. The company said it was complying with the new US rules that impose penalties on any international company supplying Iran with refined petroleum products. In a similar case earlier, Iran increased its gasoline production after the United States and the European Union started approving their own unilateral sanctions against the Islamic Republic over its nuclear program, mostly targeting the country's energy, including a US boycott of gasoline supplies to Iran. After the UN Security Council ratified a sanctions resolution against Iran on June 9, 2010, the US Senate passed a legislation to expand sanctions on foreign companies that invest in Iran's energy sector and those foreign companies that sell refined petroleum to Iran or help develop its refining capacity. The bill, which later received the approval of the House of Representatives, said companies that continue to sell gasoline and other refined oil products to Iran would be banned from receiving Energy Department contracts to deliver crude to the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve. The bill was then signed into law by US President Barack Obama. But Iran's self-sufficiency in gasoline production made Washington's plots fall flat. Iran boosted gasoline production so much that in September 2010, the country exported its first gasoline consignment to the foreign markets. On July 12, Iran's Deputy Oil Minister and former Head of the National Iranian Oil Refining and Distribution Company (NIORDC) Alireza Zeighami told FNA that "We are prepared to export jet fuel to the neighboring states". He stressed that Iran "is not faced with any problem in the production and storage of jet fuel", and played down the recent boycott imposed by certain western states on the supply of jet fuel to Iran and Iranian planes.