On Thursday, foreign media indicated that Israeli forces simultaneously attacked the airports of Damascus and Aleppo in Syria, rendering them out of service. It was also reported that a plane carrying Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian was forced to land in Baghdad instead of Damascus. Now, it is becoming clear that there is much more to what appears.

Israel Hayom can now say that the alleged Israeli strikes prevented the landing of not just one but two planes. 

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Here are the details of the second plane. At 12:48, a Mahan Air Airbus A340-313 took off from Tehran's Mehrabad International Airport en route to Damascus. When it was just ten minutes away from landing in Damascus, the only suitable runway at the airport was bombed.

To prevent its diversion to Aleppo, the landing strip there was also bombed. The Lebanese network Al Mayadeen reported on the same day that Israeli missiles caused significant damage to runways at both airports. With both airports hit, the Airbus A340-313 plane had to turn around and ultimately headed back to Iran.

What was on this plane, and why – according to foreign reports – did Israel prevent its landing? According to information in my possession, its payload included 10 tons of anti-tank missiles and anti-aircraft missiles. My sources indicate that shortly before takeoff, intense activity by the Revolutionary Guards could be observed at Mehrabad International Airport 

Video: Gallant reveals Iran building airport in Lebanon for terrorism / Credit: Go live

"We saw several white Toyota Hilux vehicles with tinted windows carrying several VIPs who looked to be bodyguards from the direction of Qadr air base of IRGC toward the aircraft. Due to my distance from them, I couldn't see their faces but we heard a rumor from my colleagues that one of those VIPs was Qaani [presumably referring to Esmail Qaani, commander of Revolutionary Guards' Quds Force]," a witness said.

According to Iranian sources, before taking off, the plane was parked next to an apron used by Fars' Air Qeshm cargo planes. According to a witness, that day, they also loaded several pallets into the cargo compartment of the Airbus A340-313. These pallets arrived from a storage yard belonging to the Quds Force of the Revolutionary Guards. "I have no doubt what was loaded into that Airbus A340 was weapons, as I saw from a distance. I couldn't guess the type of the weapons as they were inside pallets. I saw the pallets arriving from the Quds Force's storage facility", the witness said. 

After the pallets were loaded, several senior officers from the Revolutionary Guards boarded the plane. They were supposed to accompany Foreign Minister Amir-Abdollahian to his meeting with leaders of Hamas and Hezbollah in Damascus. However, as mentioned, the minister's arrival was also canceled due to the explosion and it had to land in Baghdad. 

Later on the same day, an Iranian government Airbus A321-231 flew him from Baghdad to Beirut, where he was supposed to meet with Hamas Deputy Chief Saleh al-Arouri and the Secretary-General of Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Ziyad Nahala. From Beirut, the Iranian Foreign Minister had to travel by car all the way to Damascus to meet with the president of Syria, Bashar Assad.

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For almost four decades, Turkey has been the first destination for Iranian dissidents and opponents seeking political asylum to avoid prosecution by the security forces of the regime. In the past several years, especially after political support has been given by the Iranian regime to the ruling government of Turkey led by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan after a failed coup d'etat in 2016, the Turkish government has not only reduced the level of protection of Iranian dissidents, leading to their assassination, but has even arrested and deported them to Iran under the excuse of illegal entry to the country.

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On Friday, July 28, 2023, Turkish Police arrested another Iranian dissident, named Mohamad Lahmi, a former airline pilot and former Shiite cleric who had fled from Iran while on prison leave in 2022. Lahmi, who had been imprisoned in Number 325 Ward of Evin prison over what is called "spreading propaganda against the regime" and also "espionage on behalf of hostile governments" was involved in Iran's airline industry before his arrest.

Video: Reuters / Iran accuses US Navy of defending fuel smuggling in Gulf incident

A business dispute with some of the most powerful businessmen with close ties to the Revolutionary Guards resulted in his prosecution and arrest under false charges such as espionage for hostile governments.

While living in Turkey, Lahmi continued criticizing the Iranian regime on social media including his Instagram account. As a former Shiite cleric, he published his speeches containing criticism towards the regime on his Instagram account, which he believed could have been one of the causes for being summoned to a Turkish police headquarters in Istanbul when he contacted several Iranian opposition journalists including author and requested their help to prevent his possible deportation to Iran in case of his arrest by the Turkish Police.

Lahmi is an example of many Iranian opposition activists and critics of the Iranian regime who have been arrested by the Turkish security forces among them several have been deported to Iran. One of the high-profile cases happened to two Iranian protesters, Mohammad Rajabi, 25, and Saeed Tamjidi, 27, who got arrested and deported to Iran in December 2019. After Turkish police handed them over to Iranian police, they were reportedly transferred to Evin. After spending several months in detention, they, along with another protester, received a death sentence. The sentences were rejected in the appeal courts but they were imprisoned for several years.

Within the past several years, human rights violations in Turkey have been at their peak as the Turkish government has imprisoned hundreds of journalists and opposition activists. Iranian dissidents and opposition activists in Turkey have also been a victim of these violations among them tens of them have been arrested and handed over to Iran's Islamic regime. Lahmi is one of them whose deportation order has been issued in Istanbul on August 2, 2023.  He is currently awaiting deportation to Iran while in detention in Istanbul.

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The supreme leader of the Islamic regime of Iran, Ali Khamenei, travels to various parts of Iran as a part of his annual vacation. These trips are carried out secretly. The city of Mashhad, his hometown, is the most important destination for his vacations. Except for the years 2020 and 2021, Ali Khamenei has visited Mashhad twice a year in the previous and subsequent years, the first trip usually is for one week in the middle of March, and the second trip for two weeks every August or September.

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Since the beginning of his rule, the state media of the Iranian regime has always attempted to show that Khamenei, as his nickname, says, "The leader of the world's oppressed and poor' has a simple lifestyle, and for this reason, a massive effort has been made to keep the details of his trips to Mashhad and other cities a secret. Those military forces who have been present or witnessed expensive measures to ensure Khamenei's security during his trips to Mashhad have realized more than anyone the hypocrisy of this autocratic leader and the lies made about his simple life.

In this report, we reveal the details of the expensive and luxurious vacations of Ali Khamenei in Mashhad thanks to the information obtained with the help of hundreds of satellite images taken over the last 15 years, as well as the observations of former military personnel.

How does Khamenei travel to Mashhad?

In the past years, about half of Khamenei's trips to the city of Mashhad have been kept secret. The details of his travels are mostly revealed in the spring.

The predictability of his trips to Mashhad in March led to the fact that the Vali-Amr Corps, one of the subgroups of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which is responsible for protecting Khamenei, often uses passenger aircraft for Khamenei's trips to Mashhad while his VIP aircraft often fly to Mashhad without him onboard.

In recent years, Ali Khamenei has used Iran's largest government-owned VIP aircraft, an Airbus A340-313 with an EP-IGA registration code, for his trips to Mashhad. But if he and his companions travel with a passenger plane among ordinary passengers, this plane will be sent to Mashhad city empty. Usually, two state media journalists accompany Khamenei and his 20 bodyguards on passenger aircraft. Their mission is to film Khamenei among passengers and publish the in-state media for propaganda purposes.

But this is not the only part of the story, more than 1,400 members of the Vali-Amr Corps are sent to Mashhad before and during Khamenei's arrival. The process of transporting them to Mashhad is carried out using several Il-76TD and An-74TK-200 transport aircraft of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Aerospace Force (IRGCASF). Usually, on the day of Khamenei's visit, several IRGC Generals, including Hasan Mashroui-Far, the current commander of the Vali-Amr Corps travel to Mashhad using one of IRGCASF's VIP jets to directly witness and observe the operation for guarding Khamenei.

To transport Ali Khamenei and his bodyguards from their place of residence in the center of Tehran to Mehrabad Airport in the west of the city, to board the plane to travel to Mashhad, five VIP helicopters of the Air Force consisting of two Bell 412s and three Bell 212s have always been used. Two Bell 412s are used to transport Khamenei, one is empty and one is carrying him, and the three Bell 212 aircraft carry his additional bodyguards. These helicopters land at the former barracks on the southwestern side of Hor Square, located 700 meters from Khamenei's residence in Tehran. After a five minutes flight to Mehrabad airport, they land next to the VIP Pavilion of the government where he is boarding a VIP jet or being transported to one of the passenger terminals to board passenger aircraft.

After being transferred to Mashhad, Ali Khamenei is sent to Malek Abad Palace, eight kilometers from the airport, using armored minibusses. During his movement on the ground in the city of Mashhad, two Air Force fighter jets usually perform combat air patrol (CAP). Similar measures are taken to return him to Tehran, with the difference that he always uses a VIP aircraft, the EP-IGA, or an Airbus A321-231 narrowbody VIP jet with EP-IGD civil registration code.

Protection of Khamenei's residence in Malek Abad Palace

In the years before the revolution, Malek Abad Palace was the residence of the last Shah of Iran and foreign guests and diplomats during their trips to the city. After the revolution, by order of the authorities of the Islamic regime, this palace was handed over to the Astan Quds Razavi Foundation under the supervision of Ayatollah Abbas Vaez-Tabasi (who died in 2016), a close friend of Ali Khamenei, and sometime later it was turned into a museum. But it didn't take long until Khamenei began using the palace during his vacation in Mashhad.

The Vali-Amr Corps of IRGC forms the closest and major security circle of Khamenei's bodyguards, they are the only ones who are present inside the palace grounds. In the next ring, respectively, the IRGC Aerospace Force uses short-range missile defense systems, the Iranian Air Defense Force uses medium and long-range missile defense systems along with anti-aircraft guns, and finally, the Air Force by means of F-5E Tiger II and F-4E Phantom II fighter jets protect Khamenei.

The Air Force normally has eight F-5E and F fighter jets based in Mashhad in order to carry out two tasks, air defense and also protection of borders against Taliban attacks, but their inability to fly at night makes it necessary to protect Khamenei by means of other fighter jets. Subsequently, four F-4E Phantom II aircraft are usually sent to Mashhad from the 9th Tactical Fighter Base in Bandar Abbas along with eight pilots to fly them.

The Air Defense Force of the Army, which permanently has two battalions of MIM-23B I-HAWK medium-range missile defense systems at Mashhad Airport in order to protect the city, deploys one battalion of S-300PMU-2 systems from Tehran to Mashhad to protect Khamenei from the threat of airstrikes, missile and drone strikes.

What do the Air Force personnel say about Khamenei's trips to Mashhad?

Intelligence protection of the Iranian Air Force is responsible to carry out a thorough investigation of each one of the Air Force personnel particularly fighter pilots before their assignment and deployment to Mashhad in order to protect Khamenei. Covert intelligence officers in fighter squadrons who are members of the Intelligence Protection Organization of the Islamic Republic of Iran Army spy on their colleagues ahead of the selection process and in case of finding any sign of their negative political view towards the regime or Khamenei, they report it to the Intelligence Protection.

Those pilots who are cleared for these missions spend all of their time in Mashhad in complete isolation in the Quick Reaction Alert facility or in the hotel located within premises of IRIAF's forward operating base in Northwest of Mashhad airport without access to phone, internet, etc. during the whole deployment time which lasts from one to two weeks. In the past, Khamenei's office was awarding these pilots by paying them a gold coin to each but according to some pilots who have been aware of the details of these rewards in August 2022 it has now been reduced to gift cards valuing $100 to $150.

An F-5E fighter pilot of the Iranian Air Force who for several years served in Mashhad and flew such missions told the author: "Our F-5Es in Mashhad can fly air defense missions from 6 a.m. until 6 p.m. After that, we can't do anything due to the short range of our radar. This is why the Air Force always deployed four F-4Es to Mashhad to protect Khamenei. The F-4E is an all-weather fighter capable of performing ground-controlled interception (GCI) at night and I heard they have upgraded radars of some of them while our F-5Es are mostly non-upgraded using the same radar that was installed on them in the-1970's when they were delivered".

A former F-4E fighter pilot who once served in the 91st Tactical Fighter Squadron in Bandar Abbas told the author about these missions and the security measures for the selection of the pilots: "During the years of my service in Bandar Abbas, I saw how restrictive was the process of selection of pilots for deployment to Mashhad to protect Ali Khamenei. We had a back-seat pilot whose uncle, an F-14A veteran pilot, was living in the United States, but because of that and also because his family was not religious, they [Intelligence Protection] never allowed him to become the front-seat pilot of F-4E and they also never selected him for such missions in Mashhad because they couldn't trust him. Sometimes, out of the 25 or 26 pilots in our squadron, less than six had clearance to do such missions forcing the Air Force to use two other F-4E pilots from 3rd or 6th Tactical Fighter Base [Also operators of F-4E] to fill the gap.

"What was disturbing for me and my colleagues as a military officer and pilot was not only the financial costs but also the security costs of Khamenei's trips, especially to the city of Mashhad. To save his life, he used our limited resources and put a lot of burden on us. During the years of my service, less than half of our Squadron's F-4Es had full mission capability, and when they were deploying four of them to Mashhad, we subsequently had less ability to protect the airspace and maritime territory of southern Iran when we had two or three left. The same situation now exists in a different form, I heard that by sending one of the two S-300 SAM systems based in Tehran to Mashhad to protect Khamenei, the capital's air defense capacity against air attack will be reduced by 20 to 30%. To save the life of one person, himself, he risks the safety of millions of people."

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Mahan Air has obtained a large number of spare parts for its A310s and A340s through Turkish companies. A flight mechanic who once maintained A340s of the airline said, parts of two of Turkish Airlines A340s "were knowingly sold to us, and they were broken into pieces in Istanbul. These parts arrived in Iran first through Russia in 2021 and now they are coming directly by land from Turkey. They are purchased through intermediary companies."

If these claims are true, one has to wonder whether Turkish Airlines is aware of this alleged scheme and who the final beneficiary is, yet continues to sell parts and devices of its fleet to Turkish and non-Turkish companies such as Tarmac Aerosave in Spain and France, one of the largest suppliers of spare parts for passenger aircraft. According to the claims, it is there that the sold parts are being repaired, and then sent to Turkey. Turkish intermediaries, in turn, deliver them by land to Iran.

"In some cases, even aircraft parts supplied from Tarmac Aerpsave in France and Spain by these intermediary companies citing the excuse of land shipment via Iran to UAE for installation on A340-642s of Al-Etihad Airways end up in Mahan Air," the mechanic said.

Israel Hayom has viewed the evidence, purportedly related to the transfers, but isn't able to publish it because of the sensitivity of the matter and the risks to those involved.

According to an A340 flight mechanic who spoke on condition of anonymity, the aircraft were purchased by the sanctioned airline through a cluster of companies registered in Turkey, Hong Kong, and Burkina Faso. Further investigations by the author prove that a Hong Kong-based company purchased them in 2019 and had them stored in Johannesburg for three years until they were flown to Tehran. Three days before their flight, the aircraft received XT-ALM, XT-AHH, XT-AKB, and XT-AKK registration codes which were obtained through a Burkina Faso-registered company of Mahan Air in-order to facilitate their transfer to Iran.

"An Airbus A340-642 under heavy maintenance in our hangar in Khomeini airport which is said here that is also going to Venezuela. Technical companies have recently purchased aircraft parts, including engines, for it from France and Spain by means of several Turkish companies. Now, Turkey has taken the place of Armenia for us as a major source of spare parts," another source in the industry said.

Mahan Air currently has 64 passenger aircraft among them around half of them are airworthy simultaneously: with 13 of these being Airbus A310s while 14 others are Airbus A340s.

The Airbus A340 wide-body and long-haul passenger aircraft, particularly its 642 series, has been once the holder of records for longest flight endurance and range among modern passenger aircraft. Mahan Air currently operates seven A340-642s.

Mahan Air has had two of its A340-313Xs leased to Syrian Air since 2017 while two of its A340-642s have been wet-leased to Venezuela's flag carrier, Conviasa since the beginning of 2022.

Out of the remaining 14 aircraft currently in Iran, five are operational and are used for flights to China, India, Thailand, UAE, and Turkey while the rest are cannibalized for their parts or are under maintenance.

According to a source, the airline has the intention to lease two more of them including one of the ex-Turkish Airlines A340-313s and also one of the A340-642s. The A340-313 is planned for delivery to Syrian Air while Conviasa will take the A340-642 according to the source.

On December 24, 2022, four Airbus A340-311/313 passenger aircraft previously used by Turkish Airlines were flown from South Africa to Uzbekistan but eventually, on their way to the destination, their pilots all declared an emergency, and changed their course, turned off their Automatic Dependent Surveillance–Broadcast (ADS-B) and flew to Tehran where they landed. It has now been determined Mahan Air is the buyer of the aircraft in question which has procured them by means of several front and sham companies in South Africa, Hong Kong, and Burkina Faso in a three years long process.

Within the past two decades, Mahan Air has used a cluster of sham and front companies in Armenia, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Ukraine, UK, and UAE to circumvent US sanctions and procure passenger aircraft. Back in the years between 2005 and 2011, two front companies were key aircraft and spare part suppliers of Mahan Air in Armenia until they were both sanctioned.

After that until 2021, Mahan used other companies from Armenia to buy passenger aircraft but finally with the efforts of the US State Department, the airline found Armenia an unsafe country for the establishment of sham companies in-order to circumvent sanctions. Now, according to sources in the industry, Turkey has taken the place of Armenia for the airline as the best country for use as an intermediary for buying aircraft and their spare parts.

Turkish Airlines and Tarmac Aerosave did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday.

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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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