Sorry, but Delta Is Not Flying Direct to Tehran

Tehran might "welcome" direct flights between the United States and Iran, but that doesn’t mean it’s going to happen. On Wednesday, Iran’s PressTV reported that the country’s foreign minister, Ali Akbar Salehi, had told reporters that "launching direct flights is for the sake of public welfare, and we have no problem with this issue." The ...

RUHOLLAH YAZDANI/AFP/Getty Images
RUHOLLAH YAZDANI/AFP/Getty Images
RUHOLLAH YAZDANI/AFP/Getty Images

Tehran might "welcome" direct flights between the United States and Iran, but that doesn't mean it's going to happen.

Tehran might "welcome" direct flights between the United States and Iran, but that doesn’t mean it’s going to happen.

On Wednesday, Iran’s PressTV reported that the country’s foreign minister, Ali Akbar Salehi, had told reporters that "launching direct flights is for the sake of public welfare, and we have no problem with this issue." The PressTV article cited Mehr News Agency, another Iranian media outlet, reporting that the United States and Iran are preparing to sign a memorandum of understanding that would allow direct flights between the two countries, and that Delta Air Lines was one of the participating carriers (such a report does not appear to still be on Mehr News’ English-language website, though Iran’s Fars News Agency also ran with the news).

The report was met with appropriate skepticism on Twitter:

Appropriate because the news seems to be completely made up. Anthony Black, a spokesman for Delta, flatly denied the report to Foreign Policy, explaining that providing service to Iranian airports would violate sanctions administered by the Office of Foreign Assistance Control. "So," he said, "what you have, heard, seen, read: untrue…. We have done nothing on our part to engage in any service to Iran."

So, if you’re headed to Tehran, keep looking for connecting flights.

J. Dana Stuster is a policy analyst at the National Security Network. Twitter: @jdanastuster

More from Foreign Policy

Keri Russell as Kate Wyler walks by a State Department Seal from a scene in The Diplomat, a new Netflix show about the foreign service.
Keri Russell as Kate Wyler walks by a State Department Seal from a scene in The Diplomat, a new Netflix show about the foreign service.

At Long Last, the Foreign Service Gets the Netflix Treatment

Keri Russell gets Drexel furniture but no Senate confirmation hearing.

Chinese President Xi Jinping and French President Emmanuel Macron speak in the garden of the governor of Guangdong's residence in Guangzhou, China, on April 7.
Chinese President Xi Jinping and French President Emmanuel Macron speak in the garden of the governor of Guangdong's residence in Guangzhou, China, on April 7.

How Macron Is Blocking EU Strategy on Russia and China

As a strategic consensus emerges in Europe, France is in the way.

Chinese President Jiang Zemin greets U.S. President George W. Bush prior to a meeting of APEC leaders in 2001.
Chinese President Jiang Zemin greets U.S. President George W. Bush prior to a meeting of APEC leaders in 2001.

What the Bush-Obama China Memos Reveal

Newly declassified documents contain important lessons for U.S. China policy.

A girl stands atop a destroyed Russian tank.
A girl stands atop a destroyed Russian tank.

Russia’s Boom Business Goes Bust

Moscow’s arms exports have fallen to levels not seen since the Soviet Union’s collapse.