A training plane crashed west of Tehran on Saturday, killing two people on board, the semi-official Mehr news agency reported.

"The training plane crashed a few minutes after take off from Payam airport at 7:00 a.m. (0230 GMT) on Saturday," Mohammadali Zohoori, manager of the Payam International Airport in the city of Karaj, was quoted as saying.

"According to received information, two people on board were killed," he said, adding that the reason of the crash is under investigation and the airport has no responsibility for the incident.

The crash happened just days after a Bell 205 police helicopter crashed in southern Iran which killed three people and injured another three.

On July 15, a Caspian Airlines Topolov plane crashed near the northwestern city of Qazvin, killing all 168 people on board.

The cause of the disaster was unclear so far, but officials have attributed the incident to technical problems of the plane.

In the past, Iran's airlines have suffered a number of flight disasters, both civil and military use.

Experts believe that the U.S.-imposed sanctions against Iran, which prevented its allies from selling aircraft or aircraft parts to the country, have undermined safety standards within Iran's civil and military aviation fleet and are increasing the likelihood of more major air disasters.

Iran's parliament has urged ban on the purchase of Russian-made passenger planes, asking the government to avoid purchasing timeworn Russian-made planes.

(Xinhua News Agency August 15, 2009)