TEHRAN -- Iran Air Managing Director Davood Keshavarzian said a plan to buy four Airbus passenger planes from France must be considered as canceled, saying U.S. economic sanctions have disrupted the sales process, IRNA reported.

The Persian-language **Iran** quoted Keshavarzian as saying that because of U.S. economic sanctions the Islamic Republic of Iran is not currently able to buy Western-made airplanes. The sanctions have also created a major obstacle to renovating the Iranian air fleet, he added. He said that after the visit by Iranian President Mohammad Khatami to Paris in 2000 Iran Air concluded a contract with the country to buy four Airbus planes, but was prevented from finalizing the deal until "appropriate conditions are prepared."

The French side, he said, has not been able to obtain the engines for the planes from the British Rolls Royce Company that had refused to act citing the U.S. sanctions which prohibits transactions with Iran on products that are 90 percent American made.

Keshavarzian's remarks follow earlier announcements by Minister of Roads and Transportation Ahmad Khorram that the ministry had received $1 billion to buy new airplanes to upgrade the airline's fleet.

The Iranian aviation fleet is composed mostly of American-made Boeings purchased before the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

U.S. unilateral sanctions against the Islamic Republic have prevented Iran from maintaining its fleet of planes fit for flying thereby forcing Iran's Civil Aviation Organization (CAO) to turn to Russian planes.

The CAO has come under mounting pressure since after the tragic accidents in domestic flights involving Russian-made planes.

On February 12, a Russian-made Tupolev-154 crashed on jagged mountains when it was on a flight to Khorramabad from Tehran resulting in the death of all 119 on board.

Twelve days later, a Russian-made Ilyushin-76, on a flight to the central city of Isfahan from the northeastern city of Mashhad with 230 people on board, made an emergency landing shortly after takeoff when a fire broke out inside the plane. No one was injured in the incident as the fire was extinguished on time. However, six passengers who were overcome by panic were rushed to hospital.

In May, a Russian-built Yak-40 plane en route to northern Iran from Tehran crashed with 30 people on board, including the then roads and transport minister Rahman Dadman.