US-Sanctioned Iranian Airline Launches Flights To Afghanistan
The Taliban governor’s office in Balkh province announced on Saturday that Iran’s Meraj Airlines has begun operating flights to Mazar-e-Sharif, the provincial capital.
The Taliban governor’s office in Balkh province announced on Saturday that Iran’s Meraj Airlines has begun operating flights to Mazar-e-Sharif, the provincial capital.
The United States sanctioned the airline in 2014 for allegedly transporting illicit cargo, including weapons, from Tehran to the Bashar al-Assad regime in Syria.
Meraj Airlines, which is also banned from flying to European Union member states, will operate one weekly flight from Iran to Balkh and three additional flights to Kabul, according to Haji Zaid, the spokesperson for the Taliban governor in Balkh.
Zaid said the first flight arrived in Balkh on Saturday carrying 120 passengers from Iran. He added that the airline plans to run four weekly flights from Iran to Afghanistan in the initial phase of operations.
Until now, only two domestic carriers, the semi-state-owned Ariana Afghan Airlines and the private airline Kam Air, were operating regular flights in Afghanistan.
Meraj Airlines, a private Iranian carrier headquartered in Tehran, began operations in 2010. In August 2014, the US Department of the Treasury sanctioned the company under Executive Order 13224, accusing it of transporting weapons and other illicit cargo from Iran to Syria.
