US commerce issues 'rare' order blocking sale of US jet engines from Turkey to Iran
Assistant Commerce Secretary David Mills, who oversees export enforcement, signed the order on Friday after learning that Turkish-based 3K Aviation Consulting & Logistics planned to re-export two engines built by General Electric Co to Iran on Tuesday using Pouya Airline, an Iranian cargo airline.
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The order, which will be in effect for 180 days, includes sweeping consequences for 3K Aviation, Pouya Airline and Adaero International Trade, the Illinois-based company that the department said had shipped the used aircraft engines to Turkey.
The order bans all three companies and their key officers from engaging in negotiations, trade, transport or other activities involving any U.S. export-controlled items, not just the aircraft engines in question.
The order also applies to banks, insurance companies and other parties that might be involved in financing or otherwise supporting any such transactions.
The department issues one or two such orders a year, said one Commerce Department official.From looking at the picture above, you would think that we're talking about engines for small planes. But that's apparently not the case. And the sale wasn't exactly straightforward.
Sadettin Ilgin, managing director of Adaero International ... told Reuters the company had documentation showing that it sold the engines, which came from Turkish Airlines, to International Aerospace Group, a U.S.-based company, for $4.1 million, and then shipped them from Istanbul, Turkey, to Frankfurt, Germany, in late December.
He said he had expected the engines to be sent to Russia for use by Siberian Air and was shocked when he received the U.S. order aimed at blocking their transfer to Iran.
"We did not sell the engines to 3K," said Ilgin, who worked for Turkish Airlines for 40 years. "This was all done properly and we have the paperwork to show it."
Two sources familiar with the aircraft engine market said the engines were likely intended for use on Airbus planes operated by Iran.
If I'm not mistaken, Airbus is the world's second largest manufacturer of commercial jetliners after Boeing. Those might be very large jet engines....
Ilgin is also claiming that Turkey won't let Iran have the engines. Really?
Ilgin said Turkish officials had assured him that they had denied permission for Pouya Airline to pick up the engines in Antalya, southwestern Turkey. Officials at 3K told him they planned to send the engines back to Germany, he told Reuters.
No comment was immediately available from 3k Aviation or from International Aerospace Group.
A Commerce Department official declined comment on whether Turkey was cooperating with the U.S. government on the issue and how the department had learned about the planned transfer.
The engines were to have been sent to Iran on Tuesday. The Tower points out that this is just a small part of a much larger problem (Hat Tip: Joshua I).
The Daily Beast assessed in late December that the open political warfare shaking Turkey – which has pitted elites in the ruling Justice and Development (AKP) Party against followers of U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen – “could destabilize [President Barack] Obama’s nuclear deal and threaten the government of Prime Minister [Recep Tayyip] Erdogan.” Judiciary figures linked to Gulen are pursuing a corruption probe that has already ensnared AKP elites, and that unearthed an oil-for-cash scheme between Tehran and Ankara that – per the Daily Beast – “may only be start of more uncomfortable disclosures about Iranian dealings in Turkey.” Fully one-sixth of companies that began investing in Turkey in 2013 were backed by Iranian money, and Turkish outlet Zaman outlined over the weekend how Turkey and Iran building mechanisms to further boost their cooperation in the coming weeks and months.And you wonder why more and more Senators are signing on for new sanctions?
Labels: Iran, Iran sanctions regime, Iranian nuclear threat, Turkey
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 5:39 PM
2 Comments:
Isn't this kind of thing ITAR? Although, I guess I wouldn't be surprised if every law on the books has been basically suspended by this administration.
This actually sounds like criminal fraud. Their paperwork said the sale was to one country and the reality was they were intended for another country. RICO, money laundering, fraud, In addition to the aforementioned SSA/ITAR violations.
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