‘There’s no reason why Iran Air should operate in the UK’
Former defence secretary says national carrier should be banned over its links to military. By Cahal Milmo
Pressure is growing on Britain to ban Iran’s state-owned airline from its airspace over its links to Tehran’s senior military commanders and evidence that the flag carrier is involved in ferrying weaponry to Russia for use against Ukraine.
Iran Air operates a thriceweekly Airbus A330 service from London Heathrow to Tehran as part of a roster of flights to eight European destinations allowed despite allegations that the airline is blatantly used by the Iranian regime as a tool of its foreign policy.
Sir Liam Fox, the former defence secretary, yesterday told
i he believed Iran Air should have been banned from UK airspace “months ago” over its cheek-by-jowl relationship with the government in Tehran, in particular the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
A senior IRGC commander, General Shamseddin Farzadipour, runs Iran Air as its chief executive after a career which included a stint as a pilot in the Quds force, the shadowy branch of the IRGC in charge of co-ordinating Tehran’s support of proxy militias including Hezbollah and Hamas.
The appointment of Gen Farzadipour is widely regarded as further evidence of the growing influence of the IRGC, which is separate from Iran’s conventional military, within the Tehran regime.
Sir Liam said: “Iran Air is not just another airline, it is an indispensable tool of the Iranian regime and the operations of the IRGC. There is absolutely no reason why it should be allowed to operate in the UK. The Government should have moved to ban it months ago and I call upon it to do so immediately.”
The Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, is already facing crossparty calls to proscribe the IRGC as a terrorist group after last weekend’s missile assault on Israel and months of indications that Iranian intelligence operatives have been targeting opposition figures in Britain and elsewhere. It has been argued within Government that the security services need to keep points of contact with the Iranian authorities.
An Iranian TV journalist was stabbed outside his south-west London home nearly three weeks ago by three assailants who fled the UK within hours via an unnamed airline operating from Heathrow. Iranian diplomats denied any involvement by the Tehran regime.
Iran Air has been repeatedly hit by US sanctions, including a ban in 2022 on one of its cargo aircraft for transporting prohibited goods, understood to be components for military drones, from Tehran to Russia for use in the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine. All Iran Air’s assets in America have been frozen.
But the airline, which was banned from European airspace for safety reasons for four years from 2010, has been allowed to continue operating to European destinations including London, Frankfurt, Cologne, Milan, Paris, Rome and Vienna.
US officials revealed last month that discussions were ongoing within the G7 about banning Iran Air from European airspace if it expanded its transfers of weaponry to Russia to include ballistic missiles needed by Moscow to maintain its bombardment of Ukrainians towns and cities.
Tehran has already sent thousands of Shahed 136 “kamikaze” drones to Russia via air and sea, as well as signing a deal for the Kremlin to set up its own drone factory on Russian soil.
But experts said Iran’s decision to unleash some 300 cruise missiles, drones and ballistic weapons against Israel meant the time has come for Britain to send a statement to Tehran by banishing its airline.
Dr Alan Mendoza, executive director of the Henry Jackson
Society think-tank, said: “The G7 already mulled banning Iran Air flights from Europe on account of fears that Iran would be selling ballistic missiles to Russia and thereby helping the Russian war effort.
“The same logic clearly applies now to a situation where Iran has fanned the flames of war itself by attacking Israel with the same sorts of missiles. The UK should now take a lead on this issue and make an Iran Air ban part of a sanctions package that shows we will not tolerate Iran’s aggression.” Mr Sunak earlier this week said that work on fresh UK measures against Iran, to be taken in concert with other G7 members, was happening “at pace”.
Iran Air did not respond to a request for comment. Tehran has been repeatedly accused of using Britain, and in particular London, as a hub for clandestine operations in support of its military and intelligence services.
Earlier this year, several UK high street banks were accused of providing accounts to British front companies allegedly operated by a sanctioned Iranian petrochemicals conglomerate to funnel funds from China back to Tehran.
The Petrochemical Commercial Company and its UK subsidiary have been accused by the US of forming part of a network used to fund the Quds Force to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars. The UK banks denied any wrongdoing and said they were confident they had complied with US sanctions.