Tehran, July 07: Iran has dismissed reports claiming that its passenger planes have been denied refueling rights at airports in Britain, Germany, and the United Arab Emirates.
“Based on the latest reports, airport officials from Britain, Germany, and the United Arab Emirates have denied this report, and Iran’s passenger planes continue to be refueled,” Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast told reporters at a weekly press briefing here yesterday.
“False information is being reported with the aim of creating a negative atmosphere of psychological warfare against Iran,” he added.
On Monday, Iranian Airlines Union Secretary Mehdi Aliyari was quoted by the ISNA news agency as saying that the three above mentioned countries were refusing to refuel Iranian passenger jets at their airports.
Aliyari had stated that the move was in line with the unilateral anti-Iran sanctions adopted by the United States and the European Union, saying that national carrier Iran Air and private Iranian airline Mahan had already been affected.
Meanwhile, oil giant BP has not renewed a contract, which expired at the end of June, to supply Iranian airlines with fuel after the US threatened to penalise foreign companies selling petrol to Tehran, the Financial Times Deutschland reported yesterday.
The FT Deutschland cited an incident in which an Iran Air plane had to land in Vienna because it had been refused refueling at Hamburg airport in northern Germany.
However, the French oil company Total and Kuwait Petroleum International both told the paper that they are supplying fuel to Iranian airliners as usual.
-PTI