Here’s an interesting report just posted by the BBC.
Iran is accusing England, Germany and the UAE of refusing to provide fuel to its passenger aircraft.
The allegation comes after the UN Security Council imposed additional sanctions on Iran for its failure to halt its nuclear enrichment program and just days after President Obama signed into law new unilateral sanctions.
The US sanctions prohibit the sale or provision to Iran of refined petroleum products worth more than $5m (£3.3m) over a year.
Paul Reynolds, world affairs correspondent for the BBC News website, said it might be that fuel companies are worried that their sales over a year might add up to $5m, in which case they could face a possible ban on doing business in the US.
England has said it is not aware of such a refusal, Germany that there is no ban and a spokeswoman for the Abu Dhabi Airports Company (ADAC) has said that the company was continuing to refuel Iranian aircraft.
According to the BBC, Mehdi Aliyari, secretary of the Iranian Airlines Union, said that “Refusing to provide fuel to Iranian passenger planes by these countries is a violation of international conventions,” and Iranian lawmaker Heshmatollah Falahatpisheh said Iran would retaliate: “Iran will do the same to ships and planes of those countries that cause problems for us,” as quoted by Iran’s Isna news agency.
Apparently, such alleged refusals to fuel Iranian passenger aircraft are costing Iran dearly, “doubling its aviation costs.”
Although some may claim–and perhaps rightly so–that such actions will hurt the Iranian people more than the government, in my opinion it may be an accumulation of such “little things” that may eventually begin to bring some sense to Iran’s leaders. But then again, we shouldn’t hold our breath.
The author is a retired U.S. Air Force officer and a writer.