THE SANCTIONS REGIME WAS OVER WHEN WE SAT DOWN:

Mahan Air has been singled out before -- not for its support for Iran's nuclear program, but for its role in providing weapons and crowd control equipment to the Syrian regime in its brutal suppression of popular unrest. The delivery of the used airplanes comes at a moment when Iran is seeking to rejoin the international economy, even before it signs a final deal. Last month Russia's president Vladimir Putin announced he would resume the sale of a sophisticated air defense system, known as the S300, to Iran. Western oil companies are already meeting with Iranian officials to discuss how to get back into the country's lucrative oil and gas markets.

Abbas Akhoundi, Iran's transportation minister, said Sunday that 15 planes had been acquired by Iran since February, with nine arriving over the weekend. Other Iranian media reported that the planes -- which used to be part of the Virgin Atlantic fleet -- were headed to Mahan Air. On Monday, the Financial Times reported that Western governments suspect Iraq's Al-Naser Airlines to have been a front for Mahan to acquire the planes.

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