Although all flag-carriers are, to some extent,entwined with the vagaries and fortunes of their home government, few will have their course through history as profoundly and irrevocably altered as Iran Air.From its founding as Iranian Airways in 1946 up until its rapid expansion in the 1970s, the airline was considered an early success story for Gulf aviation.It became one of the first carriers to operate the Boeing 747SP – deploying it on daily non-stop flights from Tehran to New York – and had even placed an order for two supersonic Concordes.