Iran Air - the only Iranian air carrier that can fly to the European Union, suspends flights to Europe after new sanctions of the Union, the director of the Association of Iranian Air Carriers, Maksud Asadi Samani, announced. “The only airline in our country that flew to Europe was Iran Air, and taking into account the new EU sanctions against Iran Air, no Iranian aircraft will fly to Europe after that,”, the agency quoted him as saying ILNA.
“The Iranian airline's flights to Europe are in high demand in the country, which is likely to be replaced by foreign airlines,” Asadi Samani added. According to him, “in this situation, some flights to Europe will already be carried out via connecting flights in intermediate countries such as Turkey or the UAE.“
„It is possible that some European airlines may establish direct flights to Iran, but currently passengers from Iran are forced to use connecting flights to travel to Europe,” the Iranian official noted. “They (the EU) brazenly state that they do not want these sanctions to harm the people of Iran, but these restrictions directly affect the lives of the Iranian people,”, he noted.
On October 14, the EU imposed sanctions on three airlines of the Islamic Republic: national carrier Iran Air, Iran's largest private airline Mahan Air and army-owned Saha Airlines. Industrial and transport companies, a number of officials, entrepreneurs and military personnel were subject to restrictions and their assets were subject to freezing. According to the EU Council, restrictions have been put in place on the alleged supply of missiles and drones to Russia and the alleged transfer of missiles to Yemen's Houthi rebel movement Ansar Allah.