Iran imposes sanctions on 15 U.S. firms
Iran said March 26 it has imposed sanctions on 15 American companies over their alleged support for Israel, terrorism and repression in the region.
A Foreign Ministry statement carried by the state-run IRNA news agency said the companies are barred from any agreements with Iranian firms and that former and current directors will not be eligible for visas.
The move is seen as a response to U.S. sanctions placed on dozens of Iranian entities in February following an Iranian missile test. Iran’s sanctions are unlikely to have much impact as none of the targeted U.S. companies are known to do business in Iran.
The companies include Bent Tal, United Technologies Products. ITT Corporation, Raytheon, Re/Max Real Estate, Magnum Research Inc., Oshkosh Corporation, Kahr Arms and Elbit Systems.
A senior Iranian lawmaker meanwhile said Iran would consider a bill branding the U.S. military and the CIA as terrorist groups if the U.S. Congress passes a bill designating Iran’s Revolutionary Guard a terrorist organization.
Such moves could heighten tensions in Iraq and Syria, where Iranian-backed forces and a U.S.-led coalition are battling the Islamic State group.
Allaeddin Boroujerdi, the head of parliament’s national security and foreign policy committee, was quoted by state TV as saying the move to further sanction the Revolutionary Guard goes against the 2015 nuclear deal Iran reached with the United States and other world powers.
Tehran and Washington have had no diplomatic relations since 1979, when militant students stormed the U.S. Embassy and took 52 Americans hostages for 444 days. AP
U.S. military plane makes emergency landing in Indonesia
An American military plane made an emergency landing at an airport in Indonesia’s Aceh province, an Indonesian air force spokesman said March 25. There were no injuries.
The U.S. Air Force Boeing 707 requested permission to land March 24 after one of its four engines failed, said Air Vice Marshall Jemi Trisonjaya.
He said permission for an emergency landing was granted and several fire trucks and ambulances were deployed to the airport’s runway. The plane successfully landed at Sultan Iskandar Muda airport in Banda Aceh, the capital of Aceh province.
The plane was carrying 20 American military personnel to Kadena Air Base, a U.S. military base in Japan, from a base in Diego Garcia in the central Indian Ocean. The cause of the plane’s engine failure was unclear.
Trisonjaya said no one aboard the plane was injured. AP
Serbia says no to NATO on alliance’s airstrikes anniversary
Serbia’s prime minister has pledged that the Balkan country will never join NATO or any other military alliance as Serbia marked the 18th anniversary of the start of NATO airstrikes that stopped a crackdown in Kosovo.
Aleksandar Vucic spoke March 24 at a railway bridge in southern Serbia where the Western military alliance’s missiles struck a passenger train, killing at least 28 people.
Vucic says “we will never be part of the alliance which killed our children, nor of any other alliance.”
Anti-NATO sentiments run high in Serbia since the 78-day bombing in 1999 over a bloody crackdown by Serbian forces against Kosovo Albanian separatists.
Although formally seeking EU membership, Serbia has been boosting its military cooperation with Russia, which has agreed to deliver fighter jets, tanks and anti-aircraft systems. AP
Lockheed Martin moving F-16 production to South Carolina
Lockheed Martin is moving production of F-16 fighter jets from Texas to South Carolina.
Local media outlets reported the company is moving production of F-16s to Greenville, S.C., to make room for expanded production of the newer F-35 jet fighters in Fort Worth, Texas.
A company spokeswoman says the move will create about 250 jobs in Greenville.
Defense One reported that the United States has not purchased F-16s since 1999, but Lockheed Martin has orders from several countries. F-16 fighter jets first entered service in 1979.
Lockheed Martin Greenville spokeswoman Leslie Farmer says the last F-16 in Texas should be complete in September. Farmer says it will take about two years to begin production in Greenville.
Lockheed Martin currently employs about 500 people in Greenville providing maintenance, repairs and overhauls.AP
Third Airbus plane purchased by Iran lands in Tehran
Iran’s official IRNA news agency is reporting that the third of the 100 planes it purchased from Airbus following a landmark nuclear with world powers has joined its commercial fleet.
The new Iran Air A330 jet landed in Tehran March 25 after a flight from Toulouse, France, home to the headquarters of the European consortium.
It has 32 business and 206 economy class seats.
Iran Air received its first and the second planes from Airbus in January and March.
Iran’s flag carrier sealed a deal with Airbus in December for 100 planes. It separately reached an agreement to buy 80 planes from Boeing.
Most of Iran’s 250 commercial planes were purchased before the 1979 Islamic Revolution. In 2016, only about two thirds of them were operational because spare part shortages. AP