TEHRAN, July 19 (AFP) - Tehran's new international airport will open next month after a dispute with the army over the awarding of an operating contract to a Turkish firm, the state news agency IRNA reported Monday.
Transport Minister Ahmad Khoram said the showpiece Imam Khomeini International Airport would reopen in the first half of August after the go-ahead of the International Civil Aviation Organisation, IRNA said.
The Iranian Revolutionary Guards shut the new airport on May 8 after just one flight landed, objecting to the deal under which Tepe-Akfen-Vie (TAV), an Austrian-Turkish consortium, will operate the facility, claiming it has business interests in Israel and thus endangered the country's security.
Last week, President Mohammad Khatami said the "technical and legal problems" had been resolved, paving the way for the reopening of the overdue and over-budget facility in the desert south of the sprawling capital.
"I don't want to accuse anyone, but what happened was not good," Khatami said then.
"The accusations were not proved and the Turkish company had won the contract," he said, although he did add that part of the deal to resolve the problem involved a greater presence of Iranian firms.
On Monday Transport Minister Khoram said: "There is no problem concerning the presence of the TAV. ... Management of the airport will be in the hands of Iranian firms."
The stand-off raised concerns that the military was ignoring the embattled government, and that foreign investors would think twice before investing in the Islamic republic's economic development.
While the new airport has been closed, airlines have continued to use the existing but overstretched Mehrabad facility in the centre of the capital.