“Following the government’s request from airlines to state if they are ready to resume direct flights between Iran and the US, Iran Air declared its readiness in writing to president’s senior aide and also the Civil Aviation Organization,” Parvaresh told FNA on Monday.
He said Iran Air used to operate a direct flight route from Tehran to New York, adding that if it receives the government’s approval it is "ready to resume the same flights with its fleet of Boeing 747".
Meantime, a senior official at the presidential office, underlined that there has been no communication between Iranian and the US officials about resumption of direct flights between the two countries.
“There has been no consultation with the American side on the start of direct flights between Iran and the US,” Mohsen Bahrami told FNA today.
Earlier this month, Head of Iran’s Civil Aviation Organization Ali Reza Jahangirian said everything is ready for the resumption of direct flights between Iran and the US and 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 told reporters.
He reiterated that Iran’s Civil Aviation Organization is only in charge of technical aspects of the flight.
Also earlier this month, 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).
Last month, former Head of Iran’s Civil Aviation Organization 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 last month 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.
"He has ordered studying the start of direct flights between Iran and the United States in order to obviate the problems facing the Iranian expatriates' visits," Torkan said, addressing a meeting here in Tehran.
President Rouhani has also underlined the necessity for increasing the services provided to all Iranian expatriates living outside the country, according to Torkan.
The United States and Iran broke diplomatic relations in April 1980, after Iranian students seized the United States' espionage center at its embassy in Tehran. The two countries have had tense relations ever since, but have shown willingness to attend talks to help resolve regional issues, including security in Iraq. Yet, the two countries have avoided talks on bilateral issues for the last thirty years.
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.
