San Marino Aircraft Register Used for Suspected Illegal Boeing 737-400 Delivery to Iran

This is a developing story

On September 4, an Boeing 737-400 aircraft, registered as either T7-HRA, is believed to have been secretly delivered to an Iranian airline. The jet departed Muscat, Oman, and once it entered Iranian airspace, its transponder signal disappeared.

The aircraft carried a San Marino registration. In other cases flags of convenience from African nations such as Madagascar, Comoros, Bermuda, Burundi, Nigeria, Congo, Burkina Faso, and Mali were used. Those states, often associated with corruption, provided cover for previous clandestine aircraft deliveries.

A full overview of previous illegal delivery flights to Iran can be read here.

The all white Boeing 737-400 was using hex-id 500444. That the the same hex-id used by MD-83 with registration T7-AKR. This aircraft is believed to have arrived at Muscat on May 2.

The previous id of T7-HRA is unknown. It could be an aircraft which was stored in Nigeria. A candidate is Max Air 5N-MBD. This is a photo showing T7-HRA at Aero’s MRO (Lagos) in June 2025. The photo was published on a Bluesky account named Aviation in Nigeria.

Before the flight to Iran the flights below were made:

Lagos on June 13, conducting a short test flight. Based on its parking location and downtime, maintenance is believed to have been carried out there.

After another long silence, the jet reappeared on September 2, departing Lagos for Yaoundé, Cameroon. On September 3, it continued to Addis Ababa and then Muscat.

Finally, on September 4, it left Muscat bound for Iran. For four minutes, its ADS-B transponder transmitted signals before going dark—its last trace before entering Iranian skies.

A History of Sanctions Evasion

Sanctions prohibit the sale or delivery of commercial aircraft to Iranian carriers. Yet, time and again, airframes find their way to Iran through proxy buyers, falsified paperwork, and shadowy delivery routes.

The other suspicious aircraft , MD-83 , which arrived at Muscat with the hex 500444 did these flights:

Photo by Bornil Amin (Dhaka)

Last operator: Indonesian carrier Air Fast.

• Storage: Parked at Budiarto Airport, July 5, 2024 – April 29, 2025.
• April 29, 2025: Flew Tangerang/Budiarto –Hang Nadim International Airport (BTH) -U-Tapao International Airport (UTP)- Dhaka (DAC)- Jinnah International Airport, Karachi (KHI) and final destination Muscat where it arrived at April 30, 2025.
• May 2, 2025: Departed Muscat at 11:06. The transponder was immediately switched off.

Update; this article was later updated with some new information from sources.