An Iranian passenger plane crashed, presumably killing all 66 people on board

Relatives of Iranian passengers, onboard the Aseman Airlines flight EP3704, react as they gather in front of a mosque near Tehran's Mehrabad airport on February 18, 2018.
(Image credit: Atta Kenare/Getty Images)

An Iranian passenger plane heading to Tehran crashed Sunday morning in a mountainous rural region. All 66 people on board, 60 passengers and six crew members, are presumed, though not confirmed, to be dead. Retrieval efforts have been hindered by the crash site's remote location and bad weather.

Iran has a poor record on aviation safety because international sanctions intended to restrain its nuclear development make it difficult to obtain parts to keep planes in good condition. This plane, operated by Aseman Airlines, was 25 years old. The airline signed a contract with Boeing last year to purchase a new fleet of as many as 60 planes, but that agreement could be jeopardized if the Trump administration seeks to exit the Iran nuclear deal.

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Bonnie Kristian

Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.