In his weekly press conference in Tehran, Foreign Ministry spokesman Said Khatibzadeh linked the case to the current high tension between Iran and Western countries over nuclear issues.
“The last few weeks are full of propaganda, psychological operations, war of words to provoke a feeling of insecurity (in Iran) and this case is part of it,” he said.
On Sunday, the immigration authorities in Argentina justified the measure of retaining the device in the international airport Ezeiza(on the outskirts of Buenos Aires), who was transporting car parts, due to suspicions about the reasons for his flight to the South American country.
“I think it was more than a year ago, according to the (Iranian) company Mahan Airlines, that the plane was sold to Venezuela,” Khatibzadeh said, recalling that not all the crew members are Iranian.
This incident took place while the Venezuelan president, Nicholas Madurowas visiting Tehran, where a 20-year cooperation agreement between the two oil-producing countries was signed on Saturday, both subject to US sanctions.
The Argentine authorities reported on Sunday that there are no detainees and that all the crew members were housed in hotels with temporary stay permits.
Immigration officials withheld the Iranians’ passports but said they could get them back sooner if they left the country on a regular scheduled flight while inquiries continue.
For a few days now, the negotiations on Iran’s nuclear program between the major powers and Tehran have become tense.
Iran announced this week its decision to disconnect 27 surveillance cameras about its nuclear activities, in response to a Western resolution passed on June 8 in which the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) denounced the Islamic Republic’s lack of cooperation.
Tehran’s reaction drew condemnation from Washington, Berlin, London and Paris, which urged Iran on Thursday to “end nuclear escalation.”
More than a year ago, talks began in Vienna to reinstate the 2015 international agreement that provided for the limitation of Iranian nuclear activities in exchange for the lifting of international sanctions.
The pact has been moribund since then-US President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew the United States in 2018 and reinstated sanctions.
Source: Ambito
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