The Obama administration has listed 117 Iranian airplanes for sanctions, alleging they’ve been used to deliver arms to the Syrian regime.
The Associated Press reported that the U.S. Treasury announced on Wednesday, September 19, that aircraft belonging to Iran Air, Mahan Air and Yas Air have been ferrying arms and military forces to Syria under the guise of delivering humanitarian aid.
These airlines are already under U.S. sanctions, so that Americans are barred from dealing with them and their assets in the United States are frozen.
The new list is a way of pressuring the Iraqi government to stop these airlines from crossing its air space.
In recent days, U.S. authorities have accused Iraq of allowing Iran to use its skies to transfer arms to Syria. Yesterday, U.S. Senator John Kerry said if Iraq does not block these flights from Iran, the United States will reconsider its aid package to Baghdad.
Iraq denies the allegations against it. A spokesman for Iraqi President Nouri Al-Maleki said he has always supported a peaceful solution for the Syrian crisis and insists that no foreign country should interfere in the conflict by delivering arms.
