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Cleared for takeoff

September 6, 2014

According to an unnamed US State Department official, an aircraft carrying US citizens was forced to land in Iran over "issues with the flight plan." The plane is now en route to Dubai.

https://p.dw.com/p/1D7wx
Eine Maschine der Billig-Fluglinie "Fly Dubai" auf dem Flughafen von Dubai
Image: picture-alliance/dpa

The chartered flydubai flight travelling from the US Bagram Airbase in Afghanistan to Dubai, which had been forced to land in Iran, has been cleared for takeoff.

US officials speaking on condition of anonymity said there had been a mix-up over paperwork required to fly over Iranian airspace. The pilots, stating there was not enough fuel to fly back to the departure airport, were forced to land the plane in Bandar Abbas, in the south of Iran.

According to the Washington Post, the plane was carrying around 100 US and possibly two Canadian passengers.

A flydubai representative said the plane "has taken off" and was now en route to Duabi.

The US and Iran have been at loggerheads over the latter's uranium enrichment program, which the US believes is for nuclear weapons.

Since last year's election of President Hassan Rouhani, who has promised to work with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), relations had improved somewhat. However, the UN's atomic watchdog said on Friday that Iran had so far failed to address concerns about a suspected bombs research program.

sb/av (AP, Reuters, AFP)