Members of Congress plan to take United Airlines management to task for signing a new contract to pay Iran hundreds of thousands of dollars a year to use the terrorist state’s airspace.
United now flies twice a day through Iranian airspace, said Rep. Benjamin Gilman (R-N.Y.), who chairs the House International Relations Committee.
Gilman said he would call United officials and Federal Aviation Administration brass to hearings on the agreement when Congress returns next month from its August recess.
United’s agreement, to pay Iran $1,500 per flight, flies in the face of Gilman’s efforts to isolate the Islamic republic, an unabashed sponsor of terrorist groups, including the Lebanon-based Hezbollah. President Clinton signed into law last week legislation co-sponsored by Gilman that imposes economic sanctions on foreign countries that invest in Iran’s fuel industries.
United’s deal apparently falls between the cracks of U.S. law that prohibits economic cooperation with Iran, Gilman said.
United officials declined to comment.
“Our committee has already shouted out loud and clear to the FAA asking why they allowed that to happen,” Gilman said in a brief interview after a reception with the American Jewish Committee here.
“They have not heard the end of this.”
But a U.S. Treasury Department official said such overflight arrangements are “routine.” Flying the most direct, fuel-efficient route is a “practical means by which U.S. travelers can pay less money to travel from point A to point B.”
In addition to providing money to the cash-strapped Tehran government, the agreement “puts our passengers at risk,” said Gilman, who happened to be wearing Republican convention credentials that bear United Airlines on the lace.
“We will not let this stand,” he said.
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