91Èȱ¬

British Airways will resume flights to Tehran from July, its parent company said on Wednesday.

IAG said it would offer six flights a week from Heathrow to the Iranian capital before moving to daily flights from next winter.

The move follows the lifting of western sanctions against Iran last month.

Air France plans to resume flying to Tehran from April after a seven-year break.

Neil Cottrell, British Airways' head of network planning, said: "Iran is a large and growing economy and Tehran is a brilliant business city. The recent lifting of sanctions opens up exciting new prospects for Iran as a tourist destination."

BA, which offered the first scheduled flights between London and Tehran in 1946, ended its three-times-a-week service in October 2012.

The airline is introducing another 13 new routes this year, which include San Jose in Costa Rica, San Jose in California, and Lima, Peru.

IAG, which also owns Iberia and Aer Lingus, said on Wednesday that group traffic measured by revenue passenger kilometres rose by 6.1% in January, compared with the same month last year, while premium traffic was up 2.1%.

Group capacity, measured in available seat kilometres, increased by 3.1%.

Shares in IAG fell 3.2% to 523.5p in afternoon trading in London, valuing the company at £10.8bn.