Iranian plane sanctioned by US for transporting weapons for terrorist groups lands in Venezuela

A cargo plane docked at Iranian Revolutionary Guards and that it belongs to a company that is subject to sanctions by the United States landed this Monday in the El Libertador Air Base, halfway between the towns of Palo Negro and Maracay, Venezuela.

This is an aircraft registration EP-FAB and it is part of the company’s portfolio Qeshm Fars Air, a company that was sanctioned by the United States accused of participating in the shipment of weapons to Syria.

As reported by the specialist account ConflictsW, the plane left the Iranian capital Tehran on Sunday evening, made a technical stopover in Mauritania and landed in the Venezuelan capital at around 6:00 p.m. GMT.

This company was sanctioned by the United States in January 2019. At the time, the US Treasury Department argued that the The company’s “delivery of lethal materiel” to Syria “enables Iran’s military support” to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, for whom the company has been blacklisted.

Last year, More than a dozen flights from Iranian airline Mahan Air have brought equipment to help repair refineries in Venezuela. Iran has also sent two fleets of tankers to Venezuela, easing severe fuel shortages in the South American country.

This is not the only connection between Iran and Venezuela that is causing concern in the United States. Pentagon said on Friday it was “monitoring” deployment of two Iranian warships whose final destination strength be Venezuela, according to US media, although he avoided commenting on what Tehran’s goal might be.

“We are monitoring the deployment of these two ships,” confirmed John Kirby, a Pentagon spokesman, at a press conference. Kirby said “questions” on “what is the intention” of “should be put to Tehran.” “I’m not going to speculate on what they want to try. But yes, we are watching it, ”he added.

According to US media reports, one of the ships sailing south along the east coast of Africa is the ship Makran, considered to be the largest made in Iran and which has a platform to carry up to seven helicopters.

For now, the Iranian and Venezuelan governments, which have close relations, have remained silent on the issue of the final destination of the ships. Tehran confined itself to signaling that it would cross international waters in the Atlantic Ocean.

The presence of warships can challenge the authority of the United States in the region and can ignite debate in Washington. around the decision of President Joe Biden’s administration to reopen negotiations with Tehran.

At the end of May, negotiations resumed in Vienna (Austria) to try to save the 2015 nuclear pact, in the hope that there will be an agreement for Iran to return to fulfill its commitments and for the United States to join them.

Germany, China, France, United Kingdom, Russia and Iran, the countries which remain in the pact, try since last April to resume an agreement in contacts coordinated by the European Union. The United States, which abandoned the deal in 2018 under former President Donald Trump, participates indirectly in contacts, through intermediaries.

In August of last year, under the Trump administration (2017-2021), The United States has confirmed the seizure of a fuel shipment belonging to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) bound for Venezuela.

With information from Reuters and EFE

Read on: