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Official: Iranian Planes Denied Fuel in UK, Germany, UAE

VOA News 05 July 2010

An Iranian airline official says that since the United States implemented new sanctions against Tehran last week, Iranian planes have been refused fuel at airports in other countries.

The Iranian news agency ISNA Monday quoted Mehdi Aliyari, secretary of the Iranian Airlines Union, as saying airports in Britain, Germany and the United Arab Emirates have refused fuel for Iranian planes. He said the refusals began after Thursday, when U.S. President Barack Obama signed a new sanctions package into law.

Those sanctions target Iran's energy and banking sectors. They aim to make it harder for the Iranian government to purchase refined petroleum, excluding from U.S. markets those companies involved in selling gasoline, jet fuel and other such products to Iran.

Mr. Obama said Thursday that the new sanctions will strike "at the heart" of Tehran's ability to fund and develop its alleged nuclear weapons program.

Iran says its nuclear program is peaceful, but Western nations suspect Tehran is trying to build weapons.

The new U.S. measures also prevent foreign banks from accessing the U.S. financial system if they do business with key Iranian institutions or Iran's Revolutionary Guards.

Last month, the U.N. Security Council approved a fourth round of sanctions on Iran because it has refused to stop its uranium enrichment program. The European Union then imposed its own sanctions against Iran, including a ban on new investment, technical assistance and transfers of technologies to Iran's oil and natural gas sector.

Australia and Canada also have indicated they will take action against Iran for failing to meet international obligations regarding its nuclear program.

In May, Brazil and Turkey brokered a deal in which Iran would send some of its low-enriched uranium to Turkey in exchange for higher-grade nuclear fuel for a medical research reactor. The agreement was sidelined when the new U.N., U.S. and EU sanctions were subsequently announced.

Some information for this report was provided by AFP and Reuters.