Saudi Arabia and its aptly named state-owned airline Saudia have distanced themselves from the sale of five ageing Boeing 777 widebody aircraft to Iran, despite long-running U.S. sanctions, which are meant to prevent the Iranian regime from getting its hands on Western aircraft and spare parts.
Earlier this week, it emerged that Tehran had managed to acquire at least five Boeing 777-200ER aircraft, with the twin-engined jets already in Iran. All five of these aircraft once belonged to Saudia Airlines.
Once the news broke, claims were made on social media that Saudi Arabia had been involved in the transaction, despite the fact that the country’s Sunni-led ruling Royal Family has long been opposed to Iran’s Shia-controlled regime.
Saudia has now been forced to deny the claims that it was in any way involved in Iran acquiring the jets, saying in a statement that the aircraft were actually sold on June 7, 2023, to a company registered outside Saudi Arabia.
The airline said the sale took place “in accordance with the applicable commercial and legal procedures governing such transactions.” In other words, Saudia says it did not violate U.S. sanctions on Iran when it sold the aircraft.
The statement added: “Since the completion of the sale, Saudia has had no operational or commercial relationship with the aircraft.”
So how did Iran get hold of these aircraft?
Tehran has become well-versed in getting hold of Western-built aircraft, which sees the planes change hands through various middlemen and holding companies. But that doesn’t explain how the planes managed to land in Iran.
What normally happens is that the pilots who intend to smuggle the plane into Iran will file a flight plan over or close to Iranian airspace. When they are nearby, they will declare an emergency that necessitates a diversion to an airport within Iran.
Once on the ground, the plane is then acquired by a local carrier such as Iran Air or Mahan Air.
Saudia most certainly isn’t the only airline to have a tenuous connection with illegally acquired airplanes. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Singapore Airlines sold one of its old Boeing 777-200s, which had previously been used by its low-cost subsidiary NokScoot.
In 2025, the airplane suddenly turned up in Iran under the control of Mahan Air. The aircraft was destroyed in an airstrike on Mashhad International Airport on March 29.
Mahan Air was previously accused of being used to smuggle weapons into Syria and Lebanon on behalf of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
A report by the Alma Research and Education Center even accused Mahan Air of setting up its own smuggling division known as Special Unit 190, which was responsible for transferring Iranian-made weapons around the Middle East, including advanced weapons components to Hezbollah in Lebanon and Bashar al-Assad’s brutal regime in Syria.
Iran Air has also been accused of illegally smuggling weapons, most recently in 2024, when the European Council imposed sanctions on the carrier for allegedly smuggling Iranian-made military drones into Russia for use against Ukraine.
