Iran looking to reestablish direct flights with US

Move is meant to solve transportation issues for Iranian citizens living in the US, council for Iranian expatriates’ affairs says.

By ARIEL BEN SOLOMON
Iranian Air 370 (photo credit: REUTERS/Iraqi Civil Aviation Authority/Handout)
Iranian Air 370
(photo credit: REUTERS/Iraqi Civil Aviation Authority/Handout)
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani issued an order to study how to reestablish direct flights between Iran and the US, an Iranian official said Monday.
The Iranian Tasnim News Agency quoted Akbar Torkan, a presidential advisor and the caretaker of the supreme council for Iranian expatriates’ affairs, as stating that the decision was meant to solve transportation problems for Iranian citizens living in the US.
“The president issued an order to study how it would be possible to establish direct flights between Iran and the United States of America in order to resolve the transportation problems of the (Iranian) compatriots residing in the US,” he said.
Torkan also said that Rouhani’s meeting on Friday with Iranians living in the US during his recent trip has led him to stress the need to provide more services for Iranian expatriates.
Rouhani gave a speech at the UN General Assembly last week and held a telephone conversation with US President Barack Obama on Friday as he was on his way to leave New York City.
The US broke off relations with Iran in 1980 after Iranian students seized the US embassy in Tehran.