On June 6, 2022, Argentinean Authorities ordered the confiscation of a Boeing 747-3B3M heavy cargo aircraft of Emtrasur Cargo, the cargo branch of Venezuelan flag carrier Conviasa once it landed at Buenos Aires' Ezeiza Airport. The aircraft in question was a Boeing 747-3B3M of Mahan Air. It was in use by the Venezuelan cargo airline since February 2022 and had already airlifted tens of tons of cargo across Latin America.
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What brought the YV3531's confiscation to the attention of the media was the rumors about possible ties of its five Iranian crew members to the Quds Force branch of Islamic Revolutionary Guard of Corps (IRGC).
An investigation conducted by the author of this report shows that the pilot of the aircraft, Gholamreza Qasemi is a former General of the Aerospace Force of Islamic Revolutionary Guard of Corps who has had direct involvement in cargo flights of Fars Air Qeshm, a cargo branch of Mahan Air to Syria. During these flights, weapons and ammunition were also airlifted to Syria by the two Boeing 747-281Bs. In this report, we review the past of Gholamreza Ghasemi.
The Boeing 747-3B3M in question was previously operated for passenger flights between various cities of Iran by Mahan Air with EP-MND Iranian civil registration code until it was converted into a cargo aircraft by Fars Co (also known as Fajr Ashian) aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul center during its D-Check or heavy maintenance in 2021.
After the end of its D-Check, EP-MND was painted in the colors of Emtrasur Cargo in Tehran, the capital city of Iran, and received the YV3531 Venezuelan civil registration code in January 2022 before being officially delivered to the new operator in February of this year. Conviasa and Mahan Air jointly used this aircraft to carry a variety of cargo across the world mainly from Iran to Venezuela and also from Mexico and other countries to Venezuela.
One of the former personnel of Mahan Air spoke on condition of anonymity to the author regarding the Boeing 747's ownership: "The ownership has stayed with Mahan Air as the Conviasa has only leased it. It is not the only aircraft that Mahan Air has leased to domestic and foreign airlines to be operated under their air operator certificate (AOC). Operating them under the name of non-sanctioned airlines helps Mahan Air to not face complications caused by the sanctions of the US Treasury Department while operating the alleged aircraft overseas."
Despite the fact that Emtrasur Cargo of Conviasa has leased the Boeing 747-3B3M from Mahan Air but the airline's public relations office as well as the head of Iranian Civil Aviation Organization, Mohammad Mohammadi-Bakhsh, an IRGC General with involvement in Quds Force operations in Syria, have denied the aircraft ties to the company.
Mehran Jannatseresht, a former flight engineer of Tu-154M passenger aircraft who was the head of Aeroflot (Russia's flag carrier) in Iran in early 2000s when he met Gholamreza Qasemi for first time. He told the author about the ties of Gholamreza Qasemi, pilot of the impounded Boeing 747, to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard of Corps:
"In was in 2005 or 2006, I was chief of station and representative of Aeroflot in Iran, I was also a Tu-154M flight engineer but I wanted to fly with Il-76 heavy cargo aircraft as flight engineer as well. I was introduced to a Cargo airline named Fotros which was operating the aircraft type. During my visit to the office of the airline, I met Gholamreza Qasemi, who at the time with the rank of Brigadier from IRGC was head of its operations. Just a few days later, the airline became defunct. Later I found out that Fotros was a front company of the IRGC Air Force and it carried weapons and ammunition to African and Middle Eastern countries!"
Mehran Jannatseresht also told the author about Qasemi's popularity among Il-76 (military and civil pilots) at that time when he met him. The cause of his popularity was his act of bravery for saving an Il-76TD of Islamic Revolutionary Guard of Corps Air Force from crashing over fire in its wing and engine on February 24, 2002. Qasemi recalled his memory of the incident during an interview with Quds Newspaper when he was a pilot with the rank of Colonel in the IRGC Aerospace Force. His interview still can be found online:
One of the four turbojet engines of the Il-76TD in question with 15-2281 serial number started burning five minutes after take-off from Mashhad airport at an altitude of 24,000 feet. Qasemi used the emergency fire extinguisher of the engine but didn't manage to suppress its fire, resulting in it spreading to the wing. As a result, the engine was separated from the wing and crashed into a farm. To save the aircraft from the utmost destruction by fire which could kill its 230 passengers, Qasemi decided to fly directly into a rainy cloud. At the same time he turned off the anti-ice system of the aircraft to use the rain and hailstones in the cloud to put out the fire on the wing. His trick worked and the fire was suppressed before he performed an emergency landing in Mashhad.
Thanks to the incident in 2002, Qasemi was quickly promoted and was assigned to the external and commercial operations of the IRGC Air Force starting from Fotros Airlines. After his retirement from the IRGC with rank of Brigadier General in 2009 he joined Mahan Air where he supervised its cargo flight operations.
In 2016, Qasemi temporarily left Mahan to take control of Iran Naft (Oil) Airlines as general manager but returned to Mahan Air later and continued flying with Boeing 747-281B cargo aircraft of Fars Air Qeshm as well. Qasemi has mostly volunteered for Cargo flights to Syria and Ethiopia during which the two aircraft of Fars Air Qeshm often also airlift weapons sold by Iranian Ministry of Defense to Ethiopia and Syria.
Babak Taghvaee is an Iranian living in exile and a journalist who covers defense and security.
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