Tel Aviv: Mahan Air, the Iranian airline that serves the country’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps ( IRGC) has managed to get 5 Boeing 777 that will be used to serve the operational needs of the IRGC. The 5 old aircraft have been under constant scrutiny by ” Western bodies ” from the moment they took off until they landed.
Iran secretly acquired five former Saudi Arabian Airlines Boeing 777, transferring them to Tehran’s Mehrabad Airport. These planes were smuggled into Iran using shell companies and forged registration documents. One of these jets was destroyed in a strike at Mashhad International Airport. The smuggling process relied on a complex international web to dodge strict global aviation restrictions.
According to Israeli sources, the transfer was performed with the help of front organisations in countries with weaker aviation oversight that temporarily registered the aircraft.
The aircraft filed false flight plans for routine destinations, such as an African country for “maintenance”. As the aircraft entered Iranian airspace over Afghanistan, pilots turned off their digital trackers to avoid radar detection.
Sources added that the dummy companies involved in the purchase were not real, which enabled Iran to take full possession of the aircraft.
Mahan Air is a private Iranian airline that operates as a covert arm of the IRGC and acts as its primary logistical network. The airline regularly transports weapons and tons of lethal cargo to militant proxies and allied regimes in Syria and Lebanon. The airline also helps transport IRGC personnel and militant fighters on clandestine charter flights without normal passenger manifests. Mahan Air partners with shadow companies and other airlines to evade international oversight, sources added.
-The writer is an Israel-based freelance journalist. The views expressed are of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the views of Raksha Anirveda
