Tuesday, January 14, 2014

Rouhani trip to Khuzestan aboard B707

 
Rouhani's aircraft for official visit to Khuzestan province appears to be Islamic Republic of Iran Boeing 707-386C, registration EP-AJE, 1001 (cn 21396/928). Air crew appears to be IRIAF.

VIP aircraft built in 1978, named "SHAHIN." 

Ex-registration EP-NHY & EP-HIM. This plane formerly belonged to last Shah of Iran; registration HIM stood for "His Imperial Majesty."

31 comments:

Anonymous said...

I wonder why the blog writer is so much fascinated with this old airplanes!

Anonymous said...

Now a bunch of smelly old mullahs are defiling the plane.

B.M.A said...

he is trying to show IRANIAN ingenuity in maintaining these old crafts at the same time killing the notion that Iranian officials ride on the latest models leaving the masses to bear the brunt of sanctions!

B.M.A said...

BASICALLY He is trying to show Iranian's ingenuity in maintaining these old versions and at the same time killing the notions by some lazy free speaking critics that Iranian officials live big life, ride the latest models living the masses to wallow in poverty under the grip of sanctions.

Anonymous said...

Same reason many are fascinated with Old classic cars, Mark is an air enthusiast!

Anonymous said...

he's mostly a hot air enthusiast

and a really keen fanboy

Anonymous said...

As opposed to the rather desperate bunch of iran bashing malcontents like yourself

Anonymous said...

The Shah (and I am not and was never a royalist) had the decency to send this "old bird" to Iran after he left the country. I wonder how many Mullahs (if ever caught in the same situation) would do the same thing.

Anonymous said...

Anon 5:17 PM......A fair comment by you and I agree.

Anonymous said...

BMA at 10:54 AM

Very good point, but I wish that that type of comments would be invented by Mark also, in his published "articles" or photolets....

Anonymous said...

Its far more likely that whatever country that pahlavi abandoned it in when he fled simply returned it to the new government of iran,that makes far more sense than any magnanimous gestures on pahlavis part

Anonymous said...

That is BS and you know it. He was still the King of Iran and in Maroco when he asked his pilot (who later joined the MKO) to fly the plane back to Iran.
Don't try to re-write the history and destort facts.

Anonymous said...

History has proven that the murderous mullahs and their minions are the biggest theives and liars.

Anonymous said...

Anon 9:55 AM....You are correct.The Shah returned the plane back when Bakhtiar (god rest his soul) was the Prime Minister of Iran.

Anonymous said...

AnonymousJanuary 17, 2014 at 9:55 AM
And this proves what exactly?,what was pahlavi going to do with a plane that he did not need and could not use anymore,was he going to live in it?,his only options were either to abandon it in which ever country he fled to or return it,none of this is any evidence of some sort of munificence on his part,but then I guess the pro pahlavi brigade is so desperate for anything no matter how pathetic that makes him look good.How do we know that it was not the pilot himself who returned the plane on his own initiative,I have to laugh that a plane that was returned under unclear circumstances is somehow proof of pahlavis goodness

Anonymous said...

The problem with you people is that you see everything in black and white. As I mentioned in my post, I am not pro-shah. I believe that he stole (like his father) from Iran and the Iranians (but the Mullahs are 100% worse than them now) but I also believe that both he and his father did a lot of good things for Iran, as I believe that everything that has happened since the stolen revolution in Iran by IRI is not just negative. One has to use logic and balance. There is no doubt that Iran now has achieved more independence in manufacturing weapons during this regime, but no one can deny that the foundation of the Iranian military complex and its achievements were laid by the Pahlavis.
Things are not just "black / white"
Now back to the topic.
A pilot can not just take off (from any airport and on his own initiative) least from Maroco with a "Royal" airplane.
The second thing is that (if you read independent accounts of the Shah's time in exile, you will find out) that airplane would have become very handy, specially on his last flight from Panama to Egypt. (I am not going in to details why. You can find out yourself if you are interested)
As Dr Abbas Milani ends his book "The Shah" he thinks that The Shah loved Iran, but he loved the country badly.
I am not sure if you can says this much about any of the Mullahs running the country now.

Anonymous said...

I don't see you presenting any facts. You are just speculating.
The fact is that this Airplane was returned back to Iran, before the victory of the revolution.
Your speculations are just nonsensical.

Anonymous said...

After the Qajars there was nothing in Iran for Reza Shah to "steal". Reza Shah created the wealth for Iran by building the first factories. Reza Shah built the worlds first railway system in the "thired world" that wasn't built by european empires. India's railway system and ports for example was built mostly by the British. Reza Shah's government didn't borrow any foreign loans from other countries for those projects. Iran before Reza Shah was a country that looked like Arabia or Afghanistan run by backward Qajar/Mullah system that left no hope for Iran. People coming on this site and blasting Reza Shah just don't know a damn thing about the dire state of Iran before him.

Anonymous said...

Hold your horses !
Although he did all the things that you say in your post, he confiscated and "stole" a lot of land by intimidating their rightful owners. This again is a historical fact. He was after all the founder of modern Iran and I do respect him, but nonetheless he grabbed a lot of lands by force.
Things are not just black / white !

Anonymous said...

Anon 5:40 PM....OK I held my horses !

Lets face it we are talking about the 1920s and the 1930s here. Back then we had Stalin,Hitler,Mussolini,Franco etc etc. Europe wasn't the "democracy" that is supposed to be like today. Iran couldn't afford the luxury of "democracy" and long term debate when the country was in ruin.Therefore someone like Reza Shah was vital to "kick start" the country. The state did confiscate land just like any other state that was under authoratarian rule. But this is a price that is paid in countries like Iran when it comes under new managment. What we need to know now is how much has this "Islamic" regime "stole" and what effect has it had on the long term social,religious and political well being of the nation. Don't forget we have over six million Iranians living abroad and have family connections in Iran.

Anonymous said...

Annon. 11.02 pm
I totally agree with what you say. This regime is 1000 times worse than the Pahlavis.
There is no doubt in my mind that Both Reza Shah and his son actually loved Iran in contrast to the Mullahs, with their Arab mentality. Although I accept your narrative about the state of the world during the 1920's and 1930's I respectfully disagree that it was the "state" that confiscated the lands. It was actually Reza Shah in order to enrich himself and his family and this was the embryo for "Bonyad Pahlavi" which is now with even more plundered private wealth is called "Bonyad Mostazafan" and is under the control of Khamenie.
My whole point with this dialog is that we Iranians should learn to look into facts and try to be critical about the things that we read and write, using facts and not being blinded by our political (if any) affiliations.
As I mentioned, I believe that some positive things have been done during the rule of the Mullahs as well and one if honest can not deny it (Although it is a completely different debate what could have been achieved, in my opinion much much more, during these 35 years, had Iran had other rulers than these corrupt people)
Thank you for you post and good luck my fellow countryman.

Anonymous said...

Stop your crap. They don't have access to the latest models because of the sanctions. If they had, they would "ride" them.

Anonymous said...

AnonymousJanuary 19, 2014 at 4:24 AM
There is nothing "arab" about the iri,indeed it was pahlavi who followed the "arab dictator" model to a tee,under pahlavi iran was every inch an "arab style" dictatorship no different to any of the gulf states today.As for what iran might have achieved under a different government that would depend on whether that government was truly independent like the iri or just another western vassal state like pahlavis,that has always been the very heart of the wests problem with the iri,any truly independent iranian state would find itself in conflict with the west simply because of the wests desire to control the resources in the region and to prevent the rise of any local hegemon who could dominate the region

Anonymous said...

Anon 1:40 AM

We seem to have disguss about this before with you. But you seem like a dog that likes to chase its own tail. The IRI is an Arabic style dictatorship. Islam is an Arabic style religion. The West helped install the Arabic/Islamic model dictatorship on Iran and is still secretly maintaining its support of the Arabic/Islamic terrorist regime. Iran under these Arab/Islamic occupiers is not "independent" but very much dependent on secret support from US/UK and open support from Russia/China because of the regimes sell out of Iranian resources to maintain the regime in power. These Arab/Islamic sell outs are the worst thing since the other sell outs,the Qajars. You can write your diatribes all day long. But the facts remain that the IRI models itself on the image of two Arabs, namely Imam Hussien and Ali.

Anonymous said...

AnonymousJanuary 20, 2014 at 4:06 PM
That makes absolutely no sense,the west does not support the iri in any way secret or otherwise even a blind person can see this,the iri stands in opposition to the goals of the west in the ME
"the regimes sell out of Iranian resources to maintain the regime in power." and who exactly has the iri sold out its resources to?,unless of course you just have a problem with with the iri selling oil in general

Anonymous said...

"The West helped install the Arabic/Islamic model dictatorship on Iran and is still secretly maintaining its support of the Arabic/Islamic terrorist regime." What is the evidence for this?

Anonymous said...

Anon 7:29 PM.....Do yourself a favor and look up the speech the Shah made back in 1973 about the renewal of oil contracts for 1979 and his refusal to accept western terms and conditions.Also look up Carters support of the muslim brotherhood before and after the "revolution".The fact remains that the oil cartel and western governments helped install the Islamic regime in 1979. After 35 years "even a blind person can see this". Or do you like to remain ignorant of those facts and pretend that the anti-Iran dictatorship is pure and godly? One more thing,that "opposition" by the IRI against the west is nothing but a hoax and play acting designed to keep seventy five million Iranians into thinking that they are "resisting" western powers.That's how you keep a population under control through deception and lies.

Anonymous said...

Anon 12:36 PM....If after 35 years you can't see the "evidence" on the history of the so-called "revolution" then you haven't been looking hard enough. That is up to you to find out.

Anonymous said...

AnonymousJanuary 21, 2014 at 12:36 PM
Thats because there is no evidence,its an absurd claim without any foundation whatsoever,as is the idea that the iri opposition to western hegemony in the ME is some sort of hoax,its just crazy conspiracy theories,quite laughable actually

AnonymousJanuary 21, 2014 at 7:15 PM
So in other words you have not a shred of evidence,thats kind of what I thought,if you`re going to make outlandish accusations then the burden of proof is on you and frankly you have not provided anything at all to back up your assertions

Anonymous said...

Anon 9:27 PM....You obviously didn't bother to look up and listen to the Shah's 1973 speech on oil renewal contracts for the year 1979. You either don't understand farsi or you're just one of those foreign agents of the regime who likes to play mind games while living in self denial. In other words a time waster.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous January 21, 2014 at 9:27 PM, you're right.