🇹🇷💬🇮🇷 Iranian airliner seized in Istanbul with passengers on board

A Caspian Airlines Boeing 737 was seized at Istanbul Airport on Monday as passengers sat ready for departure to Iran.

Bailiffs and lawyers acting for a Turkish aviation services company boarded the aircraft and served a court order over a debt of around €3 million, grounding the plane before takeoff. Passengers and crew were escorted back to the terminal.

The seizure comes just days after new US secondary sanctions on Iran's aviation sector took effect, cutting daily international flights at Tehran's main airport roughly in half. Tehran has filed complaints with the UN, the International Civil Aviation Organization and the International Court of Justice.

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