The U.S. has asked Argentine authorities to seize a Boeing 747-300M transport aircraft it says was handed over by an Iranian airline to Venezuelan counterparts in violation of U.S. export control regulations, the Justice Department said.

According to the case file, the plane, which belonged to the Iranian Mahan Air, came under the control of the Venezuelan EMTRASUR, which, in turn, allowed "the re-export of the aircraft between Caracas (Venezuela), Tehran (Iran) and Moscow (Russia) without the permission of the US government."

"Today's coordinated action is against the illegal transfer of an Iranian transport aircraft to a Venezuelan airline and the subsequent operation of that aircraft in violation of our rules," said Assistant Secretary of Commerce Matthew Axelrod.

Argentine authorities detained the plane's crew, including five Iranians, in June. The crew commander has been identified as a former officer in Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, a paramilitary force that is on US terrorist lists, the Justice Department said. It added that Mahan Air and Venezuelan CONVIASA, which controls EMTRASUR, are under US sanctions.

bbabo.Net