Dino Velvet
04-19-2014, 03:22 AM
Seems odd but even odder the way the story is framed.
http://news.yahoo.com/nobody-sure-why-american-plane-ended-iran-065109314.html
Nobody’s Sure How or Why an American Plane Ended Up in Iran
http://l.yimg.com/os/publish-images/news/2013-11-19/50e9fadf-7d79-46fd-b2a3-0b4991befdce_logo_90x60.jpeg (http://thewire.com) By Brian Feldman 18 hours ago
On Tuesday, a New York Times reporter in Tehran spotted an American plane (http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/18/world/middleeast/mystery-shrouds-american-plane-at-tehran-airport.html?hp) at Mehrabad Airport in Tehran, an extremely unique sight given the harsh sanctions imposed on the country by the United States and other Western nations.
For an American plane to enter Iran legally, a number of hoops would need to be jumped through. The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control needs to give approval for an American aircraft to travel to Iran—they gave a “no comment” to the Times. Complicating things further, the jet’s engines are made by General Electric, meaning that the Commerce Department would also have to sign off on allowing American-made equipment to enter the isolated country.
So whose plane is it? The plane’s tail number is N604EP, which records show is owned by the Bank of Utah (http://flightaware.com/resources/registration/N604EP) (it also has a small American flag on its tail). This means almost nothing. As the Times notes, the Bank of Utah is a relatively small community bank with 13 branches in the state. However, the bank is a trustee for 1,169 planes, “more planes than just about any other bank.”
Owning the plane through a trust allows the owner privacy. A bank employee said that the bank has no operation control or financial exposure to the planes. They're owners by proxy.There is one slight clue though. The jet was spotted in Zurich (https://www.flickr.com/photos/awilson154/12221595055/), Switzerland on January 22, 2014, right around the time of the World Economic Forum in Davos. That probably narrows the list down to 2,633 powerful people (http://qz.com/166889/the-list-of-everyone-attending-davos-this-year/).
The plane was also in Accra, Ghana (https://www.flickr.com/photos/15110856@N02/12857247375/) on January 3 and in Luton, England (https://www.flickr.com/photos/hertsman_images/10042254844/) on October 1 of last year and February 16 (https://www.flickr.com/photos/100843543@N05/12632627295/in/faves-79937023@N07/) of this year.
If you own a Bombardier Challenger CL-604 with the tail number N604EP, or know somebody who does, please don’t hesitate to reach out (http://www.thewire.com/contact/).
This article was originally published at http://www.thewire.com/global/2014/04/nobodys-sure-how-or-why-an-american-plane-ended-up-in-iran/360872/
http://l3.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/HFBhknpnmFAhQOTiQ.CKEg--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9ZmlsbDtoPTM5MjtweW9mZj0wO3E9Nz U7dz02NzU-/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/theatlanticwire/Nobody_s_Sure_How_or_Why-a8b64954602a3eb7b6afe6529896fc70
Nobody’s Sure How or Why an American Plane Ended Up in Iran
http://news.yahoo.com/nobody-sure-why-american-plane-ended-iran-065109314.html
Nobody’s Sure How or Why an American Plane Ended Up in Iran
http://l.yimg.com/os/publish-images/news/2013-11-19/50e9fadf-7d79-46fd-b2a3-0b4991befdce_logo_90x60.jpeg (http://thewire.com) By Brian Feldman 18 hours ago
On Tuesday, a New York Times reporter in Tehran spotted an American plane (http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/18/world/middleeast/mystery-shrouds-american-plane-at-tehran-airport.html?hp) at Mehrabad Airport in Tehran, an extremely unique sight given the harsh sanctions imposed on the country by the United States and other Western nations.
For an American plane to enter Iran legally, a number of hoops would need to be jumped through. The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control needs to give approval for an American aircraft to travel to Iran—they gave a “no comment” to the Times. Complicating things further, the jet’s engines are made by General Electric, meaning that the Commerce Department would also have to sign off on allowing American-made equipment to enter the isolated country.
So whose plane is it? The plane’s tail number is N604EP, which records show is owned by the Bank of Utah (http://flightaware.com/resources/registration/N604EP) (it also has a small American flag on its tail). This means almost nothing. As the Times notes, the Bank of Utah is a relatively small community bank with 13 branches in the state. However, the bank is a trustee for 1,169 planes, “more planes than just about any other bank.”
Owning the plane through a trust allows the owner privacy. A bank employee said that the bank has no operation control or financial exposure to the planes. They're owners by proxy.There is one slight clue though. The jet was spotted in Zurich (https://www.flickr.com/photos/awilson154/12221595055/), Switzerland on January 22, 2014, right around the time of the World Economic Forum in Davos. That probably narrows the list down to 2,633 powerful people (http://qz.com/166889/the-list-of-everyone-attending-davos-this-year/).
The plane was also in Accra, Ghana (https://www.flickr.com/photos/15110856@N02/12857247375/) on January 3 and in Luton, England (https://www.flickr.com/photos/hertsman_images/10042254844/) on October 1 of last year and February 16 (https://www.flickr.com/photos/100843543@N05/12632627295/in/faves-79937023@N07/) of this year.
If you own a Bombardier Challenger CL-604 with the tail number N604EP, or know somebody who does, please don’t hesitate to reach out (http://www.thewire.com/contact/).
This article was originally published at http://www.thewire.com/global/2014/04/nobodys-sure-how-or-why-an-american-plane-ended-up-in-iran/360872/
http://l3.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/HFBhknpnmFAhQOTiQ.CKEg--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9ZmlsbDtoPTM5MjtweW9mZj0wO3E9Nz U7dz02NzU-/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/theatlanticwire/Nobody_s_Sure_How_or_Why-a8b64954602a3eb7b6afe6529896fc70
Nobody’s Sure How or Why an American Plane Ended Up in Iran