TEHRAN — The spokesman for the Iranian Civil Aviation Organization (CAO) announced on Thursday that Iran has accepted a request that a number of planes from the private Afghan company, Kam Air, to land in Iranian airports.

“Following the escalation of clashes and tensions at Kabul airport, the owner of the private airline Kam Air Afghanistan, demanded the transfer of a number of the company's planes to Iranian airports,” Mohammad Hassan Zibakhsh stated, according to Nour News.

He added that Iran, in line with international interactions with neighboring countries, has issued a landing permit for these flights.

“It should be mentioned that these flights did not have any passengers,” the spokesman said. 

13 U.S. service members and at least 85 Afghans have been killed in two bombing attacks outside Kabul's airport, according to the Pentagon and Afghanistan's Ministry of Public Health. The deadly blasts came as the United States and other Western countries raced to complete a massive evacuation of their citizens and Afghan allies following the Taliban takeover of the country.

In a report on Thursday, Press TV also reported that Iran has allowed three jets owned by Kam Air to land in an airport in the northeastern city of Mashhad.

Zibakhsh did not elaborate on the location of airports hosting the planes neither did he mention the exact number of the planes seeking refuge.

That comes as aviation sources said in social media posts that two Airbus A340 jets and one Boeing 737 belonging to Kam Air had landed in Mashhad’s Hashemi Nejad Airport.

The news about planes transfer across the border came hours after an explosion hit areas just outside the airport in Kabul, leaving multiple people injured. That came after reports suggested an Italian plane taking off from the airport had come under fire although authorities said shots had been fired to disperse the crowd near the airport.

Kabul airport has been the scene of chaos since last week when foreign military forces led by the United States started an evacuation process to comply with a deal with the ruling Taliban which obliges Western forces to leave the country by August 31.

Thousands of people have crowded the gates of the airport seeking to leave Afghanistan onboard evacuation flights amid concerns that they might face prosecution by the Taliban.

SA/PA