Argentina OKs Transfer Of Venezuelan Plane To US Amid Strife With Iran

A view of the Boeing 747 aircraft registered with the number YV3531 of Venezuelan Emtrasur Cargo airline, at the Cordoba International airport, Ambrosio Taravella, in Cordoba, Argentina, June 6, 2022.
A view of the Boeing 747 aircraft registered with the number YV3531 of Venezuelan Emtrasur Cargo airline, at the Cordoba International airport, Ambrosio Taravella, in Cordoba, Argentina, June 6, 2022.

An Argentine court has given the green light for the transfer of a Venezuelan plane to US authorities amid legal wranglings with Iran.

The Boeing 747 cargo plane, belonging to Venezuela's Emtrasur, has been detained in Argentina since June 2022. The plane was purchased by Emtrasur, a subsidiary of state airline Conviasa, from Iran's Mahan Air in October 2021, violating US sanctions against both countries.

Caracas and Tehran objected to US efforts to seize the plane, seeking support from Argentina. On Wednesday, Judge Federico Villena directed its surrender to the United States, a decision denounced by Venezuela as "robbery," according to the justice ministry.

In June 2022, Argentine lawmaker Gerardo Milman alleged that Iranians on the Venezuelan plane were plotting "attacks on human targets." Iran meanwhile claimed the plane wasn't owned by an Iranian company but Milman accused the pilot of being a "senior official of Qods (Quds) force," listed as a terrorist organization by the United States.

The 19-member crew, consisting of Venezuelans and Iranians, initially faced detention, with the US suspecting one member's ties to the IRGC Quds Force, designated a terrorist organization. Although all crew members were initially detained, they were later released.

In September 2022, the pilot claimed he was only a flight instructor and denied ties to the Iranian military, but had served as a volunteer in the Iran-Iraq War (1980-1988) with the Basij Popular Mobilization Forces.