British Airways and Air France-KLM to suspend flights to Iran amid US sanctions

Two of Europe’s biggest airlines have announced they would suspend their services to Iran claiming they are no longer commercially viable due to the latest US sanctions.

Air France and KLM announced late on Thursday they will halt flights to the Middle Eastern nation by the end of September due to "weak commercial results".

Likewise, British Airways said it's London-Tehran services will be cancelled because they are no longer commercially viable.

The change comes after US President Donald Trump pulled out from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal and decided to impose sanctions on the country. He threatened businesses who deal with Iran will also be impacted by the sanctions. Since then, some energy companies such as Total SA have exited the country.

British Airways apologised to customers and said it would negotiate with other companies to allocate them in different flights or in a worst case scenario grant them a refund.

Iran's top envoy to Britain said on Thursday the decision by British Airways was regrettable.

"Considering the high demand [...] the decision by the airliner is regrettable," Hamid Baeidinejad wrote on his official Twitter account.

Iran could be severely affected by sanctions if more companies decide to turn their back on the country.

Arjom Hatsaturjands, analyst at Accendo Markets, said on Friday: "Oil prices are higher this morning as Iran sanctions are starting to take a bite from the supply side of the energy market. While Iran is currently the third-biggest OPEC oil producer, its output could fall from 2.5m bpd to below 1m bpd when sanctions take full effect."