Iranian delegation travels to Venezuela to discuss direct flight route

An Iranian delegation landed in Venezuela on Monday to discuss launching direct flights between the two countries, Venezuela’s foreign minister said, as Tehran voices support for President Nicolas Maduro against the opposition backed by most Western countries. A plane belonging to Mahan Air, a private Iranian airline accused by the West of transporting military equipment to Middle East war zones, landed in Caracas on Monday, and the two countries will discuss launching a direct flight “in the coming months,” Minister Jorge Arreaza said. A White House official said the US government viewed the launch of direct flights as a “politically motivated gesture.” “From our standpoint, there’s clearly no commercial reason to establish this flight at this time,” the official said. Iran’s Mehr news agency quoted the spokesman of Iran’s Civil Aviation Organization Reza Jafarzadeh as saying a delegation from Mahan Air was travelling to Caracas to discuss maintaining regular flights between the two countries. The nonstop Tehran-Caracas flight would take 16 hours. A Reuters photographer saw a Mahan Air plane parked at Caracas’ main Maiquetia airport on Monday morning. Mahan Air, established in 1992 as Iran’s first private airline, has the country’s largest fleet of aircraft. <br/>