BRUSSELS (Dispatches) -- The European Union has banned Iran's Aseman Airlines from operating within the EU due to safety concerns, in a blow to Tehran which is buying new jets to renew the country's ageing fleet following the lifting of long-term sanctions.
Aseman Airlines was added to the EU's air safety list of airlines which do not meet international safety standards, the European Commission said in a statement on Thursday.
The privately owned regional carrier is Iran's third largest by active fleet size, according to the CAPA consultancy. It was previously owned by Iran's civil service pension foundation.
Aseman Airlines was reported in August to be buying 20 regional jets from Japan's Mitsubishi Heavy Industries for use on domestic routes.
The lifting of economic sanctions has allowed Iran to strike provisional deals worth around $50 billion with Boeing and Airbus to buy some 200 airliners to renew its ageing fleet.
The Commission also removed all Kazakh airlines from the list, meaning they are no longer subject to restrictions on operating in Europe, because of improvements to aviation safety.
"After years of work and European technical assistance, we are today able to clear all Kazakh air carriers. This also is a positive signal for all the countries that remain on the list. It shows that work and cooperation pay off," EU transport commissioner Violeta Bulc said.

Major Shipping Deal With Hyundai
Iran signed contracts with South Korea’s shipyard Hyundai Heavy Industries Company to build at least eight Ultra Large Container Vessels (ULCVs) as well as medium-range tankers for carrying petroleum products, IRNA reported on Friday.    
The contracts were the first of their kinds that Iran has signed after the removal of sanctions in January. They were sealed between Hyundai Heavy - the world’s biggest shipbuilder – and the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL) – the biggest shipping company of the Middle East – at a total value of above $600 million.
Iran’s original order, as earlier reported by the Wall Street Journal, comprised four ULCVs and six containers.  The exact breakdown of the order is still not clear.
The funding for the orders would be provided by South Korean banks and financial institutions, the news agency reported.
The capacity of the container vessels will be 14,500 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU) and the capacity of the tankers will be 49,000 deadweight tonnages (DWT).   
The move is expected to help speed up Iran’s overseas exports – particularly exports of crude oil as well as oil products – within the next few years.
"The ULCVs that have been ordered to be built will be the first of a new generation of vessels that Iran will acquire,” the IRISL announced in a statement.  Hyundai Heavy is expected to start delivering the vessels from the second quarter of 2018, IRNA added.
Discussions with the company over IRISL’s vessel orders had started last December.
The contracts were parts of the IRISL’s plans to renovate its fleet through a total investment of $2.5 billion, the Wall Street Journal had earlier reported.
The company operates about 115 oceangoing vessels, but many of the ships are old, have been deemed unsafe to travel and cannot be insured, it had added in its report.