British Airways resumed flights to Iran on Thursday, but the airline did not say it will give customers special warning about the risk of travel, despite government notices that describe the potential for capture and imprisonment there.
The process for booking flights to Tehran will be the same as for any other international city where the airline does business, a spokeswoman told THE WEEKLY STANDARD Thursday.
“We’d advise any traveler to Iran to read the advice of their home country’s foreign office, as we would to any country that we fly to,” she said, and stressed that safety is the airline’s “number one priority.”
“We would never fly to a destination unless we believed it was safe to do so,” she continued.
British Airways stopped flying to Iran in 2012 as tensions between London and Tehran swelled. The airline announced in February that it would resume service to the Islamic Republic after the “relaxation of sanctions” from the Iran nuclear deal, implemented in January. Flights will be offered six times a week.
“[Sanctions relief] opens up exciting new prospects for Iran as a tourist destination thanks to its rich heritage and culture, unique architecture, and world-class food and delicacies,” a press release about the reinstated service said.
British Airways’s return to Iran comes a week and a half after the U.S. State Department re-issued a travel warning urging U.S. citizens, especially dual nationals, to “consider postponing their travel” to the Islamic Republic. Iran has detained five Iranian-Americans in the last six months, with the most recent arrest occurring Wednesday.
“Foreigners, in particular dual nationals of Iran and Western countries including the United States, continue to be detained or prevented from leaving Iran,” the warning reads. “U.S. citizens traveling to Iran should very carefully weigh the risks of travel.”
Iran does not recognize dual citizenship, the warning says, and authorities there “continue to unjustly detain and imprison U.S. citizens, particularly Iranian-Americans.”
The United Kingdom has issued similar guidance, urging British citizens and dual nationals to “consider carefully the risks of travelling to Iran” and, if traveling there, to “keep a low profile.”
According to the Daily Telegraph, four Britons are known to be behind bars in Iran, with a fifth feared detained in August.
