Washington, DC – The National Iranian American Council expresses its condolences to the families of the victims of a plane crash yesterday near Tehran’s Mehrabad Airport that killed 39 people and injured an additional 9 passengers.
Iran has one of the worst civilian flight records in the world, due in large part to sanctions that have blocked the purchase of new aircraft, spare parts, or repairs for Iranian aircraft. Without the ability to replace or maintain its aging fleet, Iranian airlines have relied on unsafe aircraft that put civilians in danger. In the past decade, over 1,000 people in Iran have died in plane crashes.
NIAC has strongly opposed these sanctions and pressed for sanctions on civilian aircraft to be revoked. This is an issue that directly impacts Iranian Americans, many of whom travel to Iran and have experienced the risks associated with air travel in Iran firsthand.
Thankfully, the interim nuclear deal brokered between Iran and the P5+1 in November of last year suspended many of these aircraft sanctions. As a result, a number of licenses have been granted by the U.S. government to enable companies to provide repairs and spare parts for Iranian civilian aircraft. These repairs and upgrades to unsafe planes cannot be completed soon enough.
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Yesterday’s accident is yet another grim reminder of the humanitarian impact that broad sanctions continue to have against ordinary people inside of Iran. It is our hope that such tragedies can be avoided in the future through the allowance of aircraft parts and repairs, and that a permanent diplomatic solution to the nuclear standoff will lift all such sanctions that are punishing ordinary Iranians.