TEHRAN -- The spokesman for Iran’s foreign ministry says all five Iranian crew members of a Venezuelan plane, who had been confined in Argentina since June at the request of the United States, have been released and they are on their way back to Iran.
Nasser Kanaani said in a statement that the Iranian nationals have been freed after 129 days of diplomatic efforts as well as legal and consular campaigns jointly conducted by Iranian and Venezuelan officials.
He stated that an Argentinean investigating judge has eventually ruled that the documents and evidence given by the plaintiffs, namely the umbrella organization of Argentina’s Jewish community (DAIA) and two Jewish members of the National Congress of Argentina, were inadmissible and inauthentic.
Accordingly, it ordered the release of the Iranian crew of the plane by lifting a ban on their travel.
Venezuelan Minister of Transport Ramón Velásquez expressed happiness over the freedom of all crew members of the plane, whom he said were kidnapped by the Argentine judiciary.
Back on September 13, an Argentine appeals court ruled that 11 Venezuelans and one Iranian traveling on board the plane could depart.
Authorities called on the judge to conclude investigation into the remaining seven crew within 10 days.
The Boeing 747 cargo plane, sold by Iranian company Mahan Air to Venezuelan airline Emtrasur, was immobilized by Argentine officials at Ezeiza International Airport as both Venezuela and Iran, which signed a 20-year cooperation accord in June, are under draconian U.S. sanctions.
In early August, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro accused the U.S. of trying “to steal from us a gigantic, modern cargo airplane”.