When Sanctions Miss Their Mark

by Patrick Appel

An Iranian partially blames the US for the recent airplane crash in the country:

Before the Revolution, the Iranian national airline, Homa, used to be the pride of Iranians. One of the biggest international airlines equipped with the latest airplanes, Iran Air, was ranked as the second safest airline in the world in 1976, second only to Qantas. But after the Revolution and because of the sanctions leveled against Iran by the United States, any sale of aircraft or their parts to Iran was declared illegal and thus a once magnificent fleet fell into disarray and disrepair.