‘Iran denies passage to Merkel’s plane’
NOVANEWS
The new Airbus A340-300 of the German government is waiting at Berlin’s Tegel airport, May 30, 2011.
The German government says Iran has refused to give permission to the plane carrying German Chancellor Angela Merkel to fly over the country, a report says.
Merkel’s plane was forced to circle over Turkey for about two hours on Tuesday before it touched down in New Delhi, India, as it was not allowed access to Iran’s airspace, Germany’s Deutsche Welle news agency reported.
After an hour of negotiations mediated by Turkey, Tehran granted the German chancellor’s plane permission to cross. Had the dispute continued any longer, the Airbus 340 carrying Merkel would have been forced to stop in Turkey for refueling.
A second German plane with four German government mini...