Iran Jets Fuel Refused by UK, Germany and the United Arab Emirates

An Iranian official has said that Iran jets fuel refused by UK, Germany and the United Arab Emirates. The accusation was made on Monday, June 5, 2010. Mehdi Aliyari, secretary of the Iranian Airlines Union was quoted by ISNA news agency as saying that the countries have been refusing to fuel Iranian passenger jets for the past week because of the ‘unilateral law by America and the sanctions against Iran.’

Aliyari said that the airlines being impacted by the refusal for re-fueling are Iran Air, the national carrier and Mahan Air, a leading private airline. Both airlines operate several flights to Europe. Heshmatollah Falahat-Pisheh, an MP and a member of the Iranian parliament’s committee on foreign police and national security warned that Tehran will retaliate, especially towards the United Arab Emirates. He said that Iran should refuse to refuel British, German and UAE planes in Iran.

The German transport ministry said that neither the U.S. nor the United Nations sanctions against Iran covered refueling of passenger jets from Iran. Mohammad Reza Rajabi, head of Iran Air in German, says that the allegations are not true.

Germany, Britain and the Dubai all officially deny the allegations made against them by Iran. However, there seems to be a little bit more to the story.

In Dubai, an unnamed source says that an international servicing company that provides fuel for several of the airports in the around the world has refused to provide Iranian planes with fuel, including in the UAE. However, the source says there are other airports in the UAE that will service Iranian planes.

The Financial Times Deutschland reported on Tuesday, June 6, 2010, that the oil giant BP has not renewed a contract to supply Iranian airlines with fuel. Their current contract expired at the end of June.

BP refused to comment on the story coming out of Germany, but did say that they ‘respect, in all the countries where we operate, the local rules regarding sanctions.’

U.S. President Barack Obama signed a law last Thursday that enacted the toughest ever US sanctions on Iran. Upon signing the sanctions into law, Obama said that the aim is to strike at Tehran’s capacity to finance its nuclear program and to deepen its isolation.

Lead by Obama, world powers suspect that Iran’s nuclear program is geared toward developing nuclear weapons as opposed to being used for peaceful purposes as they claim. As a result, the UN and the European Union have imposed unilateral punitive measures against Iran over its nuclear program.

Obama, BP. BP, Obama. Those names seem to be together in the news a lot lately. Just an observation …

Still, to give credit where it’s due. Anything to stop Iran from its nuclear ambitions has to be a good thing. We hope. Unless, of course, it backfires. So are Iran jets fuel refused by UK, Germany and the United Arab Emirates? If the unnamed sources can be believed, it sounds like there might be some truth to it. Whether that’s a good thing or not is yet to be seen.