The main problem was their hot and high performance with a full load ie they just really werent suited to airliner duties in the me region,however as a long range patrol craft or potential aew/awac or airborne drone controller then I think they might have some possibilities which I think is good,as it would be a complete waste of all the considerable resources that iran poured into this project to just do nothing with them.Indeed if a better engine could be found or reverse/reengineered from an existing model then their use as an short haul airliner could still be a possibility.
Sadly tho it doesnt look like this is very likely as rouhani and co seemed utterly disinterested in this sort of thing preferring instead to simply throw away the enormous time and resources invested in the program in the vain hope that they would be allowed to purchase western aircraft,which to put it mildly looks increasingly unlikely.It would be very,very ironic indeed if his government was left with simply no other choice but to have to resurrect the ahmadinejad era deals for the purchase of tu204sm airliners from russia [LOL!].
Yes,sad but true and a dreadful waste of all the vast time,effort and resources involved,it is truly disheartening when you see that sort of thing happening.
