At 3.10pm on Thursday, flight IR711 from Tehran is due to land at London's Heathrow Airport, one of two scheduled flights this week, despite sanctions on Iran's main carrier announced by Britain on Tuesday.
In fact, Iran Air can potentially keep flying to the UK, France and Germany for the next year, even though new sanctions imposed on Tehran by these countries include ending direct air travel with Iran.
This sees the start of a 12-month notice period to work towards restricting Iran Air from flying into the UK
UK Foreign,
Commonwealth and Development Office
These three countries imposed the sanctions as part of a broader push, together with the US, to punish Iran over accusations it has provided Russia with ballistic missiles for the war against Ukraine.
The UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office said the “announcement sees the cancellation of the air services arrangements with Iran”. But it added that “this sees the start of a 12-month notice period to work towards restricting Iran Air from flying into the UK”.
The Foreign Office told The National: “It is internationally established practice that air services arrangements should be accorded time to wind down, and a 12-month period is the norm”.
As well as two flights a week from Heathrow, Iran Air currently operates direct routes to Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Cologne, Hamburg, Munich, Vienna, Milan, Rome and Paris.
The airline's operations appear to be continuing as normal after the announcement, with flights operating on Wednesday from Frankfurt and Hamburg to Tehran. Flights are also due to operate from Paris to Tehran on Friday.
The flight restrictions risk further isolating Iran and its diaspora after many European carriers suspended flights to the country.
The carrier has faced restrictions for decades as a result of US sanctions that prevent Tehran from importing civilian aircraft and parts from international companies such as Boeing and Airbus.
Most of the airline’s fleet was banned from the EU over safety concerns from 2010 to 2016. It has also faced refuelling restrictions that have occasionally forced its planes to make additional stops during longer flights.
In addition, the US Treasury has imposed more sanctions on Iran Air, as well as ships and companies that it said were involved in supplying Moscow with Iranian weapons.
“Iran Air has a history of transporting goods on behalf of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and the Ministry of Defence and Armed Forces Logistics,” said the US Treasury.
About 1.8 million people flew between Europe and Iran last year, with seven in 10 travellers on flights from Iran taking connecting flights, particularly through Istanbul, according to the Simple Flying aviation news website.
In the past many European airlines – including British Airways, KLM and Air France – flew to Iran, but most services ended in 2018, mainly due to the consequences of sanctions.
Emergency
Director: Kangana Ranaut
Stars: Kangana Ranaut, Anupam Kher, Shreyas Talpade, Milind Soman, Mahima Chaudhry
Rating: 2/5
Winners
Ballon d’Or (Men’s)
Ousmane Dembélé (Paris Saint-Germain / France)
Ballon d’Or Féminin (Women’s)
Aitana Bonmatí (Barcelona / Spain)
Kopa Trophy (Best player under 21 – Men’s)
Lamine Yamal (Barcelona / Spain)
Best Young Women’s Player
Vicky López (Barcelona / Spain)
Yashin Trophy (Best Goalkeeper – Men’s)
Gianluigi Donnarumma (Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester City / Italy)
Best Women’s Goalkeeper
Hannah Hampton (England / Aston Villa and Chelsea)
Men’s Coach of the Year
Luis Enrique (Paris Saint-Germain)
Women’s Coach of the Year
Sarina Wiegman (England)
T20 World Cup Qualifier
October 18 – November 2
Opening fixtures
Friday, October 18
ICC Academy: 10am, Scotland v Singapore, 2.10pm, Netherlands v Kenya
Zayed Cricket Stadium: 2.10pm, Hong Kong v Ireland, 7.30pm, Oman v UAE
UAE squad
Ahmed Raza (captain), Rohan Mustafa, Ashfaq Ahmed, Rameez Shahzad, Darius D’Silva, Mohammed Usman, Mohammed Boota, Zawar Farid, Ghulam Shabber, Junaid Siddique, Sultan Ahmed, Imran Haider, Waheed Ahmed, Chirag Suri, Zahoor Khan
Players out: Mohammed Naveed, Shaiman Anwar, Qadeer Ahmed
Players in: Junaid Siddique, Darius D’Silva, Waheed Ahmed
Directed: Smeep Kang
Produced: Soham Rockstar Entertainment; SKE Production
Cast: Rishi Kapoor, Jimmy Sheirgill, Sunny Singh, Omkar Kapoor, Rajesh Sharma
Rating: Two out of five stars
Red flags
- Promises of high, fixed or 'guaranteed' returns.
- Unregulated structured products or complex investments often used to bypass traditional safeguards.
- Lack of clear information, vague language, no access to audited financials.
- Overseas companies targeting investors in other jurisdictions - this can make legal recovery difficult.
- Hard-selling tactics - creating urgency, offering 'exclusive' deals.
Courtesy: Carol Glynn, founder of Conscious Finance Coaching
Labour dispute
The insured employee may still file an ILOE claim even if a labour dispute is ongoing post termination, but the insurer may suspend or reject payment, until the courts resolve the dispute, especially if the reason for termination is contested. The outcome of the labour court proceedings can directly affect eligibility.
- Abdullah Ishnaneh, Partner, BSA Law
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Who was Alfred Nobel?
The Nobel Prize was created by wealthy Swedish chemist and entrepreneur Alfred Nobel.
- In his will he dictated that the bulk of his estate should be used to fund "prizes to those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind".
- Nobel is best known as the inventor of dynamite, but also wrote poetry and drama and could speak Russian, French, English and German by the age of 17. The five original prize categories reflect the interests closest to his heart.
- Nobel died in 1896 but it took until 1901, following a legal battle over his will, before the first prizes were awarded.
THE BIO:
Favourite holiday destination: Thailand. I go every year and I’m obsessed with the fitness camps there.
Favourite book: Born to Run by Christopher McDougall. It’s an amazing story about barefoot running.
Favourite film: A League of their Own. I used to love watching it in my granny’s house when I was seven.
Personal motto: Believe it and you can achieve it.
States of Passion by Nihad Sirees,
Pushkin Press
Earth under attack: Cosmic impacts throughout history
- 4.5 billion years ago: Mars-sized object smashes into the newly-formed Earth, creating debris that coalesces to form the Moon
- 66 million years ago: 10km-wide asteroid crashes into the Gulf of Mexico, wiping out over 70 per cent of living species – including the dinosaurs.
- 50,000 years ago: 50m-wide iron meteor crashes in Arizona with the violence of 10 megatonne hydrogen bomb, creating the famous 1.2km-wide Barringer Crater
- 1490: Meteor storm over Shansi Province, north-east China when large stones “fell like rain”, reportedly leading to thousands of deaths.
- 1908: 100-metre meteor from the Taurid Complex explodes near the Tunguska river in Siberia with the force of 1,000 Hiroshima-type bombs, devastating 2,000 square kilometres of forest.
- 1998: Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 breaks apart and crashes into Jupiter in series of impacts that would have annihilated life on Earth.
-2013: 10,000-tonne meteor burns up over the southern Urals region of Russia, releasing a pressure blast and flash that left over 1600 people injured.
The National Archives, Abu Dhabi
Founded over 50 years ago, the National Archives collects valuable historical material relating to the UAE, and is the oldest and richest archive relating to the Arabian Gulf.
Much of the material can be viewed on line at the Arabian Gulf Digital Archive - https://www.agda.ae/en
