IATA halts ticket services to Iran Air

10/11/11

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) says it must close its payment services to Iranian citizens using the state-owned airline Iran Air due to the sanctions imposed on the country.

Related Report: U.S. Sanctions Iran's National Airline

Chris Goater, the spokesman of the Geneva-based IATA, said on Monday that the decision was made in accordance with the economic and political sanctions imposed on Iran by the United States.

Goater added that according to the terms of the sanctions, the association is obliged to suspend Iran Air's ticket payment transactions.

Following the previous round of US sanctions against Iran Air, Iran's ambassador to the United Nations, Mohammad Khazaei, said in a letter to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon that the issue of sanctions imposed on Iran Air was an example of how the US is directly targeting Iran's civilian and non-military entities.

"Despite the deceptive and hostile claims by the US that the sanctions solely target firms, legal entities and individuals associated with Iran's peaceful nuclear program... there is no doubt that the aim of these hostile actions are to pressure the entire Iranian nation," he said.

Iran Air has been facing US sanctions since 1995. Washington has forbidden the sale of Boeing spare parts to the airline. The EU also followed suit in 2010 by preventing Iran's civilian aircraft from using its airspace.

The IATA's action is actually a measure against the Iranian people since it will make traveling difficult for them.

Iran says such measures are violations of international obligations and even exceed the terms of the sanction resolutions of the United Nations Security Council, which it also regards as unfair.