Trump-Iran tensions halt Indian carrier’s Tehran flight plans

Air India Express has put on hold a plan to fly to Tehran amid renewed tensions between the US and Iran after president Donald Trump imposed fresh sanctions on the Persian Gulf country. Since some of Air India’s plane purchases were funded by the Export-Import Bank of the US, it won’t be able to fly to places where the US govt imposes sanctions, K. Shyamsundar, the airline’s CE, said Tuesday. The carrier may now fly to Bahrain via Doha instead, he said. The US, pursuing a harder line on Iran, slapped penalties on a raft of individuals and companies in response to the country test-firing a ballistic rocket last month. While it isn’t clear if the US will tighten the measures, Iran’s foreign minister Sunday mocked being “put on notice” in a tweet by Trump. <br/>