Argentina releases all remaining Iranian crew of Venezuelan plane: Spokesman
Iran says Argentina has released all the five remaining Iranian crew members of a Venezuelan cargo plane, which Buenos Aires seized in June at the request of the US.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kan’ani made the announcement in a statement on Tuesday, saying the five Iranian nationals were freed after 129 days of diplomatic efforts as well as joint legal and consular campaigns conducted by Iran and Venezuela.
He said the Argentinean investigating judge ultimately ruled that the documents provided by the plaintiffs — namely DAIA, the umbrella organization of the Zionist community in Argentina, as well as two Zionist members of Argentina’s parliament — were insufficient and invalid, ordering the release of the plane’s Iranian crew members and lifting their travel ban.
Kan’ani also noted that the Iranian crew members of the Venezuelan plane were heading back home.
A Boeing 747 cargo plane owned by Venezuelan company Emtrasur with 19 crew members on board has been grounded since it landed in Argentina on June 8 over alleged violations of US sanctions.
On Friday, Federal judge Federico Villena said there was no basis to prosecute the remaining five people after the 14 other crew members had been granted release in prior months, but the judicial investigation would remain open.
The plane, sold by Iranian company Mahan Air to Venezuelan airline Emtrasur, was immobilized by Argentine officials at Ezeiza International Airport as both Venezuela and Iran, which signed a 20-year cooperation accord in June, are under draconian US sanctions.
The Emtrasur plane, with a shipment of auto parts, first entered Argentina on June 6 from Mexico but, the jet, unable to refuel in the Argentinean capital of Buenos Aires due to US sanctions against Caracas, left for Uruguay two days later.
After Uruguayan authorities refused it access, the plane flew back to Argentina where its crew was detained in a hotel following a request from a US court.
One of the Iranian crew members granted release on Friday was pilot Gholamreza Ghasemi, who was also accused by the Argentine authorities of having alleged links to the Quds Force of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), which has been blacklisted by the US.
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