An Iranian plane sanctioned by the United States for carrying weapons for terrorist groups landed in Caracas

A Boeing 747-281F of the Iranian cargo airline Fars Air Qeshm landed on Tuesday at Maiquetía’s Simón Bolívar International Airport, considered the most important airport in Venezuela, for reasons still unknown.

The Venezuelan deputy Jose Manuel Olivares He denounced the arrival of the plane with a photograph from his Twitter account and pointed out that several people unloaded boxes from the inside to transfer them “directly to highly escorted containers”.

As reported by various flight tracking websites, such as FlightAware, The PE-FAB registration plane departed from Tehran, Iran on Monday and made a stopover in Tunisia and Cape Verde before arriving in Venezuela on Tuesday around 4:00 pm Caracas time.

This aircraft has since been blacklisted in the United States Donald Trump’s government will include it in a sanctions package in 2019 to be used by the Tehran regime to carry weapons for militants in Syria, including members of the Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah. The US Treasury Department noted that the airline Fars Air Qeshm is controlled by the private airline Mahan Air, and that Iran “uses Mahan Air and its commercial aviation sector to transport the necessary people and weapons. to carry out this tragic campaign in Syria and to fuel the sectarian conflict throughout the region ”.

In that January 24, 2019 announcement, the US Treasury highlighted the registration of two Qeshm Fars Air B747 aircraft: EP-FAA and EP-FAB. “These identifications serve to warn those who support these aircraft that they could face sanctions from the United States.”he warned.

“We aggressively target those who continue to provide business support to Mahan Air and other designated airlines, and whoever ignores our warnings risks severe penaltiesTreasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said when it was announced that among those sanctioned was the EP-FAB registered Boeing that landed Tuesday in Venezuela.

“Fars Air Qeshm, which originally operated as a commercial airline between 2006 and 2013, resumed operations in 2017 and its fleet of two B747 aircraft operated regular flights to Damascus delivering cargo, including arms shipments on behalf of the Guard Iranian revolutionary. He explained the Treasury sanctions statement. And he added: “The delivery of lethal material by Fars Air Qeshm enables Iran’s military support to the Bashar al Assad regime, prolonging the brutal conflict and suffering of millions of Syrians, and has resulted in the displacement of millions of people across the country. world. region “.

Alleged arms shipments

The White House Special Envoy for Iran and Venezuela, Elliott Abrams, on Monday he warned that the United States “will neither tolerate nor allow the dispatch of long-range missiles” from the first to the second..

In dialogue with Fox News, the official indicated that Donald Trump’s administration “will make all efforts“To avoid such a situation, but, in the event that the weapons reach the Caribbean country “they will be eliminated there”.

The media have made it clear that while there are no indicators that indicate an impending transaction, “Iran has announced its intention to carry out arms sales and Venezuela is a clear target as these two regimes isolated from the world already have a relationship.“.

“Venezuela pays gold for Iranian gasoline shipments and there is an Iranian presence in the country. The Venezuelan economy has collapsed, so that every gold bar that goes to Iran represents tens of thousands of dollars that the Venezuelan people need to get food and medicine, ”he added.

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