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Iranian passenger jets Â«refused fuelÂ»

05 July 2010 22:21 (UTC +04:00)

Baku â€“ APA. Iran says that Britain, Germany and the United Arab Emirates are refusing to provide fuel to Iranian passenger planes, APA reports quoting BBC.
The move, which has not been confirmed, follows unilateral sanctions imposed by the US, the Isna news agency reported.
Iran is facing tougher sanctions designed to impede the development of its nuclear programme.
Tehran says its nuclear industry is for peaceful purposes but Western powers fear it is trying to develop a bomb.
"Since last week, our planes have been refused fuel at airports in Britain, Germany and UAE because of the sanctions imposed by America," Mehdi Aliyari, secretary of the Iranian Airlines Union, told the news agency.
He said the national carrier Iran Air and Mahan Airlines had both run into refuelling problems.
"Refusing to provide fuel to Iranian passenger planes by these countries is violation of international conventions," he added.
’Retaliation’
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," Isna quoted him as saying.
However, a spokeswoman for the Abu Dhabi Airports Company (ADAC) told Reuters that it was continuing to supply Iranian jets with fuel.
ADAC manages the airports for the cities of Abu Dhabi and Al Ain in the UAE.
"We have contracts with Iranian passenger flights and continue to allow refuelling," she said.
A spokesman for the UK’s Civil Aviation Authority told the BBC that such a move would be down to individual fuel companies.
Germany’s Transport Ministry said the refuelling of Iranian planes was not banned under EU or UN sanctions.
However, he could not comment on whether any individual providers were refusing to fuel Iranian aircraft.
The US sanctions prohibit the sale or provision to Iran of refined petroleum products worth more than $5m (Â£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.
An Iranian aviation official said Iranian airliners were filling up with as much fuel as possible inside Iran.
But they were also having to refuel in countries along their route not imposing a ban, a move which the official said was doubling costs.
The new US sanctions, signed into law by President Barack Obama last week, penalise foreign companies that trade with Iran.
Last month, the UN Security Council voted to impose a fourth round of sanctions on Tehran for failing to halt its nuclear enrichment programme.