THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, September 21, 1996 TAG: 9609210311
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A9 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: THE NEW YORK TIMES
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: 35 lines
The Federal Aviation Administration has issued an emergency order barring flights by U.S. airlines over Iran because, it said, the Iranian military installed anti-aircraft missiles on the Iranian-Turkish border this month.
But other government officials immediately questioned how long the missile site had been in place and why the aviation agency announced the restrictions now.
``There's always been a surface-to-air missile site there, so I don't know why the FAA chose this time to issue the notice,'' said a Clinton administration official familiar with Iran.
Before the order, United Airlines had flown a 206-passenger Boeing 767 jet over Iran on its twice-daily London-New Delhi flights. United opened the popular route last December. Two U.S. cargo carriers also fly over Iran.
Rep. Benjamin Gilman, R-N.Y., who heads the House International Relations Committee, wrote the FAA in July to express concern that the agency was permitting U.S. airliners to fly over Iran, even though the country has long been on the State Department's list of countries supporting terrorism.
Officials from the agency and United Airlines played down Gilman's concerns. ``We have no problems with Iran,'' a United spokesman said earlier this year. ``They have a good air-traffic control system and the controllers speak excellent English.''
But Tuesday, the airline changed its tune when the FAA issued its urgent order after learning Iran had established a U.S.-made Hawk missile battery near the Turkish border.
KEYWORDS: FAA AIR SPACE IRAN by CNB