Iranian government mulling resumption of direct flights to US

Head of Iran’s Civil Aviation Organization Ali Reza Jahangirian said the government is studying resumption of direct flights to the US. “This issue is currently under study by the government and the results of their assessments will be announced once their studies are complete,” Jahangirian told reporters on Sunday. Yet, he said that he cannot give an exact date for declaring the decision of the government. In November, Jahangirian said everything is ready for the resumption of direct flights between Iran and the US, and that the CAO “is just waiting for the Iranian government's final approval”. “We are currently waiting for the cue of the country’s political authorities to put the flight into operation,” Jahangirian said. He reiterated that Iran’s Civil Aviation Organization is only in charge of technical aspects of the flight. Also in November, Iranian Deputy Road Minister for Aviation Affairs Ali Mohammad Nourian said Tehran and Washington are both interested in resuming direct flights between the two countries, but they are waiting to first see the results of the talks between Iran and the Group 5+1 (the US, Russia, China, Britain and France plus Germany). In October, former Head of CAO Hamid Reza Pahlavani announced that Iran is ready to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the US on starting direct flights between the two countries. Referring to the decree issued by Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on resumption of direct flights between Iran and the US, he said his organization is now studying the issue. Presently, there are a high number of international flights to and from Iran, Pahlavani added. Iran's Presidential Advisor and Acting Head of the High Council of Iranians Affairs Abroad (HCIAA) Akbar Torkan announced in October that President Rouhani has issued an order for studying the possibility of the resumption of direct flights between Iran and the US to facilitate visits of the two countries’ nationals. Washington and its Western allies accuse Iran of trying to develop nuclear weapons under the cover of a civilian nuclear program, while they have never presented any corroborative evidence to substantiate their allegations. Iran denies the charges and insists that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only.