An Airbus plane. Iran recently purchased 15 used commercial planes manufactured by Airbus. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

JNS.org – An Israeli official has criticized the U.S. for allowing Iran to purchase aircraft that violated international sanctions.

Iranian media recently reported that Tehran had purchased 15 used commercial planes manufactured by Airbus, a European conglomerate. While the sale of aircraft spare parts was eased under the interim nuclear deal with Iran, planes are still restricted under the current sanctions.

“Israel learned from intelligence sources about this very significant breach of the sanctions in advance of it occurring,” an anonymous Israeli official told Reuters.

“We flagged the issue to the U.S. administration,” the official added. “Unfortunately, the deal still went through and there was no success in preventing it.”

According to the Israeli official, the airline involved in the sale had ties to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps and the Hezbollah terrorist group.