Iran’s airlines feel the brunt of international sanctions; passenger deaths shoot up

After 17 years of United States sanctions that have prevented Iran from buying new Western planes and spare parts the number of passenger and crew deaths in crashes have increased exponentially, reports NYT. The sanctions have prevented oil-rich Iran from updating its fleet, forcing it to use substandard Russian planes and to patch up its older jets far past their normal years of service, drawing on spare parts bought with increasing difficulty on the black market. Rarely a year goes by without major airline accidents, and most Iranian planes, including the 727, are forbidden to operate within the European Union.