German Chancellor Angela Merkel touched down more than 2 hours late in Delhi, India, today, for the start of her visit to India, after Iran refused to allow her plane access to its airspace. The plane was forced to turn round and circle over Turkey before permission was finally granted, just before the plane ran out of fuel. The The German Foreign Minister requested the presence of the Iranian ambassador in Berlin. He said he wanted to make it clear that such a "breach of international protocol would not be tolerated". "It is absolutely unacceptable that Iran should hold up the German chancellor's journey," he said. "It shows a lack of respect for Germany that we will not tolerate". It is unclear why Iran suddenly withdrew permission to enter its airspace in the early hours of today. On Monday evening, when the plane took off from Berlin, the German authorities say they had already been given the green light to fly over Iran. However, the Iranians dispute this. Only after an hour of negotiations, with Turkey as mediator, did Tehran grant the chancellor's plane permission to fly over Iran. If the dispute had gone on any longer, the Airbus 340, pictured above in Delhi today, would have been forced to make a stopover in Turkey for refueling. A 2nd German plane, carrying 4 German government ministers flew over Iran without a problem and landed on time in Delhi. This was also the maiden flight of the chancellor's new plane, the "Konrad Adenauer," named after post-war Germany's first chancellor.
No comments:
Post a Comment