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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Mullahs’ Airport Is Still Ideal Site for Exhibitions of Fine Porcelain |
| 2004-05-26 |
| Members of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) closed Tehran’s International Imam Khomeini Airport on 8 May, its first scheduled day of operations. Officials said the closure was due to the presence of foreigners from the Turkish-led consortium Tepe-Akfen-Vie (TAV), which built and was to operate the airport. The IRGC said the foreign workers were a security risk at a sensitive site. IRGC Brigadier General Alireza Afshar, a deputy head of the armed forces joint headquarters, said on 9 May that the airport would not be safe until the contract with TAV was cancelled, Fars News Agency reported the same day. The airport, he added, "has a special and vital security status and needs...more precise regulations." It was shut, he said, after the Roads and Transport Ministry ignored instructions issued on 4 April by the Supreme National Security Council to cancel the contract, according to farsnews.com on 9 May. The airport remains closed even though Iran Air, the national airline, has been tasked with operating the facility. Additionally, foreign personnel were asked to leave on 7 May in a bid to avert closure. Yet it was still closed. .... Roads and Transport Minister Ahmad Khoram stated separately on 9 May that the Supreme National Security Council did not tell the ministry to cancel the contract. .... The suspension of the operation deal has also angered Turkey. The TAV consortium built the airport’s Terminal 1 and signed a memorandum of understanding last December to operate it ... It spent $15 million on equipment and staff training for that task, which it now cannot do. TAV says that its agreement, which includes a $193 million deal to build and operate a second terminal, remains valid .... Part of the "security issue" cited by the IRGC may consist of Turkey’s security ties with Israel -- a state Iran does not recognize and considers an archenemy. Iran’s conservative press has highlighted what they term the TAV consortium’s potential ties to "Zionists." .... But officials have sought to present the closure in more technical terms. Ala’eddin Borujerdi, a member of parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Committee and one of two legislators the parliamentary speaker has appointed to investigate the matter, said on 12 May that the "matter...is not political," .... Borujerdi stated that the airport was simply not ready to function on 8 May and that "its initiation was hasty." ..... |
| Posted by:Mike Sylwester |
| #8 Halliburton doesn't do airports - maybe Brown & Root, their construction subsidiary does but probably not as well known in ME as Bechtel at doing that (ie. Dubai, Riyadh, Amman, etc.). Also, Iran may have a legitimate issue regarding TAV if you are violently and virulently anti-Israel. I believe TAV was the GC on Ben-Guirion expansion a few years back. If not, being a Turkish contractor it would provide an easy hideout for any Mossad operation since the Turks and Israelis are thicker than...well, thieves but not the Ali Baba type! |
| Posted by: Jack is Back! 2004-05-26 3:41:38 PM |
| #7 I'm thinking it's a good place for the IAF to refuel for the flight back after bombing the reactor |
| Posted by: Frank G 2004-05-26 1:18:27 PM |
| #6 Doc - Look for the Velvet paintings of Ayatollah (Williamson-)Khomeni, the Pakistani-British ruler of Iran after the fall of the Shah, are the real big sellers next to the pottery and glassware. |
| Posted by: BigEd 2004-05-26 1:03:38 PM |
| #5 Good thing my girlfriend's trying to get me off of the Mountain Dew; I'd have spewed it with those last two comments and currently be in the market for a new laptop! And I'm loving the running joke of everything the mullahs' airport is good for! |
| Posted by: The Doctor 2004-05-26 11:56:58 AM |
| #4 Mike K- The reason things on the aircraft carrier and airport have gone so bad is deGaulle himself is haunting them. "How could you name zeese white elephan' after moi?" Devine justice could be the answer. {BOO} |
| Posted by: BigEd 2004-05-26 11:54:02 AM |
| #3 ..Slightly O/T, but has anyone noticed that the two biggest projects named for Charles DeGaulle - the nuclear aircraft carrier and the airport - have both gone horribly bad? The carrier took nearly a decade to build, had glass on the bridge that no one could see out of, threw a propeller on her first cruise, and turned out to have a flight deck that was 12 feet too short, and IIRC is actually slower than the 40+ year old conventional CV she replaced. The airport...well, Concorde crashed out of there, and now the terminal is literally collapsing. Poor planning, lousy design, or just plain old Divine Justice? You make the call.. Mike |
| Posted by: Mike Kozlowski 2004-05-26 9:38:06 AM |
| #2 I'll take my shot. Well, monsieur, maybe if you let Halliburton build you your airports next time, they wouldn't...ummmmmmmmmm...fall down?? Au reviour! |
| Posted by: tu3031 2004-05-26 8:19:10 AM |
| #1 Time for a cheap shot at France. I'll leave it has an exercise for the reader. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2004-05-26 7:56:03 AM |