Iran Airlines Flights BANNED From Europe (POLL)

On Tuesday, the EU banned most of Iran Air's jets from flying to Europe due to safety concerns, not, as would be presumed, because of U.N. sanctions against Iran, according to the Associated Press.

A safety audit has banned Iran Air's Boeing 727s and 747s, and its Airbus 320s.

The "banned" list, which consists of 278 airlines, mostly small operations from Africa and Asia, was established in 2006 and is updated regularly.

In defense of the dubious ban, Transport Commission spokeswoman Helen Kearns told the AP: "We deal purely with safety requirements. Our controls focus entirely on safety, nothing else."

Kearns also said that Indonesian carriers, Metro Batavia and Indonesia Air Asia, were removed from the list (there are now six Indonesian airlines allowed to fly into Europe). After a slew of deadly crashes three years ago, all Indonesian airlines were prohibited from European airspace.