Germany Bars Iran's Mahan Air From Landing To Safeguard 'Security Interests' - Ministry

The German Transport Ministry announced Monday that Iran's private airline Mahan Air had been barred from flying to Germany

BERLIN (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 21st January, 2019) The German Transport Ministry announced Monday that Iran's private airline Mahan Air had been barred from flying to Germany.

"The Federal Aviation Office informed Mahan Air on January 21 that its permit to fly to and from Germany was suspended, effective immediately," a spokeswoman for the ministry told reporters.

A Foreign Ministry spokesman, who was present at the briefing, added the decision to freeze the airline's landing rights was taken to safeguard Germany's "security interests.

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US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo praised this decision and urged other countries to bar the airline from their airspace.

"The airline transports weapons and fighters across the middle East, supporting the Iranian regime's destructive ambitions around the region. We encourage all our allies to follow suit," he tweeted.

The US Treasury barred citizens from flying with Mahan Air and froze its assets in the country in 2011 for its alleged aid to Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps and the Lebanon-based Hezbollah.