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Allegations Against Intelligence: Iranian Airline May Not Land In Germany Anymore

Germany An Iranian machine of the Mahan Air at an airport: So far, the company regularly flew to Dsseldorf and Munich
JAN 21, 2019 LISTEN
An Iranian machine of the Mahan Air at an airport: So far, the company regularly flew to Düsseldorf and Munich

Earlier this month, the EU imposed sanctions on Iran. Now the federal government goes one step further. Background are serious allegations against Iran's intelligence service.

Germany has banned the Iranian airline Mahan Air with immediate effect the local operation. The airline must let the connections to and from Germany rest, said a spokeswoman for the Federal Ministry of Transport in Berlin. This was necessary to "safeguard the foreign and security interests of Germany," added a spokesman for the Foreign Office.

Apparently, the Federal Government is reacting to the suspicion that the Iranian intelligence service has carried out assassinations against political opponents in Europe and may have planned more. At the beginning of the month, the EU had also adopted sanctions against Iran for the same reason. However, with the ban on flights for Mahan Air, Germany goes beyond these sanctions.

Links to Revolutionary Guards?
The Iranian airline has been controversial for years. As reported by the "Süddeutsche Zeitung", it has been on a US sanction list since 2011 - and if it were up to the government in Washington, the line should not fly any more in the allied countries of the USA. So far, Mahan was still active in Germany: Three times a week, the airline flew to Düsseldorf, once a week Munich.

The US accuses the Mahan airline of close ties with the Iranian Revolutionary Guards. Likewise, the US claims that Mahan machines ammunition, weapons and fighters fly to Syria and thus support the war there. The Iranian government has thus contributed to the "tremendous human suffering" in the country, as quoted by the "Süddeutsche Zeitung" the US administration.

Iran's secret service in focus
The EU accuses the Iranian intelligence service of being behind several murders on European soil. Iran is said to have been responsible for the assassination of two Iranians in the Netherlands, as well as planning attacks in Denmark.

The case of an Iranian embassy council, which was stationed in Austria, caused tensions between Germany and Iran in July 2018. He is said to have previously planned a bomb attack on a meeting of an Iranian opposition group in Paris, as t-online.de reported.

In July, the diplomat was arrested on a Bavarian highway and later delivered to Belgium. As a result, the Iranian government ordered the German ambassador to Tehran. In contrast, the Süddeutsche Zeitung does not link the new sanctions to another case, a dethroned Iranian spy in the Bundeswehr.

The Iranian intelligence service was repeatedly blamed for attacks in Europe for decades. After hard diplomatic struggles, however, the incidents dropped. But that seems to change again.

Francis Tawiah (Duisburg - Germany)

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