Envoy: Iran-Ukraine To Jointly Build Antonov-158 Regardless Of Sanctions

TEHRAN, Iran -- The sanctions imposed by the West on Iran will leave no impact on Iran-Ukraine joint production of Antonov-158 passenger planes, a senior Ukrainian diplomat said on Saturday. "Sanctions have no impacts on Iran-Ukraine cooperation in building Antonov-158 planes," Ukraine's Ambassador to Tehran Alexander Samaraski told FNA on Saturday. The diplomat, however, said that negotiations between two counties regarding the project are still underway. Iran aims to fly its first Antonov-158 jointly built with the Ukrainian company as early as 2013. The new air vehicle with a seating capacity of 100 passengers will be the next generation of Iran-140 airplane. After purchasing the production license for the Antonov-140 from Ukraine in 2000, Iran built its first Iran-140 passenger plane in 2003. The first IRAN-140 aircraft was introduced by Iran in 2003. Five domestically-manufactured IRAN-140 planes were completed in October 2008 to increase the country's transportation capacity and upgrade the Iranian passenger fleet. The IRAN-140 is a double-engine turboprop aircraft which can fly almost 1,865 miles before re-fuelling and its passenger model seats 52 people.