Flights by Iran’s Mahan airlines to Italy will be banned from December due to their links to Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, Radio Farda reported on Saturday.
The Italian government’s report said that “Mahan air has a 45-day window to wind down its flights, with the deadline in December. The Italian government had announced its decision early October about not renewing Mahan’s permit to fly to Italy,” the report said.
The United States has sanctioned Mahan airlines since 2011for its affiliations with the terrorist organization of Iranian Revolutionary Forces.
Islamic Republic of Iran used civilian plane to transfer weapon and ammunition to the Middle East, aiming at hiding its support for terrorism, confidential sources inside the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps told Avatoday earlier this year.
The source who spoke to Avatoday on condition of anonymity said that “there is two reasons behind transferring weapon and ammunition with civilian plane, first IRGCs wants to keep its support for terrorist groups throughout the region as a secret, and in case the US identifies these airplanes and shut them down, so Iran would accuse the US and Israel of shutting down civilian airplane.”
According to the source, IRGC mostly uses Mahan air and Pars air to transfer weapon and ammunition to Syria.
