Germany said today, it has banned Iranian airline Mahan Air from its airports, in an escalation of sanctions adopted by the European Union against Tehran over attacks on opponents in the bloc. Foreign ministry spokesman Christofer Burger told reporters at a Berlin press conference that the move was necessary to protect Germany's foreign and security policy interests. A transport ministry spokeswoman said that officials at the Federal Aviation Office had sent Tehran-based Mahan Air a notification ordering the immediate suspension of its authorisation to operate passenger flights from and to Germany from today.<br />'' <br />''Mahan, Iran's second-largest carrier after Iran Air, flies four services a week between Tehran and the German cities of Duesseldorf and Munich.<br />'' <br />''It was blacklisted by the US in 2011, as Washington said the carrier was providing technical and material support to an elite unit of Iran's Revolutionary Guards known as the Quds Force.<br />''<br />