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A day before Christmas, on December 23, four Airbus A340s took off in quick succession from Johannesburg Airport in South Africa. The specified destination: Uzbekistan. But the quartet never came. When they reach Iranian airspace, the planes are diverted to Tehran, where they land. This is reported by several portals specializing in air traffic, first the Turkish “haber.aero”.

The Dutch aircraft follower Gerjon shared a screenshot of the flight path of the four aircraft on Twitter. The display of the former is lost over Iran. On December 29, he posted a recording that should show that the four machines are now actually at the airport of the Iranian capital in Tehran Mehrabad. What’s behind it?

It is suspected that the four aircraft were smuggled into Iran in violation of existing Western sanctions. According to the Aerotelegraph portal, the regime is known for circumventing sanctions against aircraft through third countries and using front companies. One thing is certain: Iranian aviation has been hit hard. Not only new aircraft are urgently needed, but also spare parts for repairs.

Landing under the pretext of an emergency

What is known about the current case? In the spring of 2019, the Turkish airline, part of the Turkish state, will phase out its last Airbus A340. A few weeks later, four will be flown from the old Atatürk Airport in Istanbul to Johannesburg, South Africa, where they will be stored.

The new owner of the machines is the little-known Hong Kong company Avro Global Limited. She gives the license plates of the jets from the British Channel Island of Guernsey, a tax haven between England and France. The machines have been in South Africa for several years. Until they suddenly moved last Friday.

On the flights for which the destination Uzbekistan is specified, they have new registration numbers – this time from Burkina Faso. The planes then land in Tehran under the pretext of an emergency, according to the unanimous reports.

Flight numbers do not exist

The fact that the crews give flight numbers that don’t exist also speaks for smuggling: MAN3808, MAN3809, MAN3810 and MAN3811. The succession of letters now feeds speculation: will the largest private Iranian airline Mahan Air become the future owner?

As a result of Western economic sanctions in place in recent decades, many planes in Iran are obsolete – or not operational at all. At the moment, more than half of the fleet of the state airline Iran Air is forced to ground, “Aerotelegraph” reports.

sanctions in effect

The United States responded to the Islamic Revolution in 1979 with a trade embargo. Other Western countries later imposed sanctions on Iran. For years, Iran has been unable to legally purchase new aircraft or spare parts.

There is a brief exception between 2016 and 2018. Then US President Barack Obama allowed the sale of aircraft to Iran. But when his successor, Donald Trump, pulled out of the Iran nuclear deal, he also imposed new sanctions. This means that European companies such as Airbus and the Italian-French manufacturer ATR are also threatened with heavy penalties if they do business with Iran if they are also active in the US.