Press TV - UAE�s Emirates Airline says it is expanding operations in Iran which the company described �a very important market�.

The airline currently�operates flights to the Iranian capital of Tehran and the holy city of Mashhad which is an extremely popular destination for Shia pilgrims.

�We are looking at opportunities there. Iran is not a small country; it�s huge, much like India,� Shaikh Majid Al Mualla, divisional senior vice-president of commercial operations at Emirates, was quoted as saying on Monday.

Dubai-based English language newspaper Gulf News quoted the carrier as saying that Emirates was heartened by strong demand for international flights in both Tehran and Mashhad. It said�there are more than 70% seat bookings year-round, with the rate rising to 90% at peak seasons in the two cities.

Al Mualla said the company had yet to discuss the�expansion plan with Iranian authorities. �We haven�t started dialogue (with Iran), but I�m sure when the time comes, it will happen,� he said.

Relations between Iran and Persian Gulf Arab states, including the UAE, have been strained over regional developments, especially the wars in Yemen and Syria.

The UAE is a main trading partner with Iran but it downgraded ties with Tehran in 2016 after Saudi Arabia severed relations�with the Islamic Republic because of�Iranian protests to the execution of a prominent Shia cleric.

In December, Etihad Airways, another Emirati airline, announced that it would scrap flights to Iran as part of a strategy review. The Abu Dhabi airline, one of the three Persian Gulf super connectors, said it would stop flying to Tehran on Jan. 24.

Low-cost flydubai, however, still maintains flights to Iranian cities, including Tehran and Mashhad.

Iran�s 2016 nuclear deal and the subsequent removal of sanctions has triggered a flurry of interest in the country where an international survey of the travel industry has described it as the next tourism hotspot thanks to �its unique culture and heritage�.



Iran�s own expansion plans are sufficiently ambitious. The country has ordered more than 200 new planes from Airbus, Boeing and ATR planemakers since US-led sanctions were lifted in 2016.

The country plans to attract 20 million foreign tourists in order to generate up to $30 billion of revenues a year by 2025, according to officials.