The Department of Justice reported this Monday that a U.S.-manufactured Boeing 747 that fell into the hands of Iranian airline Mahan Air, which is affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, was returned to the United States.
The plane was flown into the southern district of Florida from Argentina after the country transferred the aircraft as part of an extradition order issued by the United States. In the summer of 2022, the plane landed in Buenos Aires. The Justice Department issued a seizure warrant to prevent it from leaving. When this occurred, the aircraft was operated by the sanctioned airline Conviasa, owned by Venezuela. However, Conviasa did not own the plane. The U.S. Department of Justice issued an order banning Mahan from selling and transferring U.S.-made commodities, per export laws.
YV3531, an #Iranian Boeing 747-3B3BM heavy cargo aircraft which was seized by #Argentina authorities following to a #US court order in 2022 was just flown from Buenos Aires to Miami in the #US today. The aircraft owned by the #IRGC's #MahanAir was operated by Coviasa's Emterasur… pic.twitter.com/6IOq0i4ME7
— Babak Taghvaee - The Crisis Watch (@BabakTaghvaee1) February 12, 2024
Violation of export laws
According to the Justice Department, the seized plane was sold by a sanctioned Iranian airline in a transaction that violated U.S. export control laws and directly benefited the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. "The Department of Justice is committed to ensuring that the full force of U.S. law denies hostile state actors the means to engage in malign activities that threaten our national security," added Deputy Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen from the Justice Department's National Security Division.
"The transfer of this plane to U.S. custody is the final step in the long process to bring this case to its rightful conclusion," said Larissa L. Knapp from the FBI's National Security Branch. "The FBI, along with our federal government and international partners, used every tool under our authorities to hold the Iranian government and their affiliates accountable for violating U.S. laws."
