The European-based Airbus became the first manufacturer on Wednesday to receive permission from the U.S.to sell aircraft to Iran since sanctions were lifted on the country as part of an global nuclear deal struck earlier this year.
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Boeing Co said it gained USA approval to sell the first jetliners to Iran in nearly 40 years as trade between the nations thaws following a nuclear pact.
Iran’s plan to buy western planes has run into opposition in its own country and the U.S. Some U.S. lawmakers are trying to bar the sale of Boeing planes to Iran. The U.S. government’s Export-Import bank, which can back plane deals, is restricted from supporting Iran-related transactions.
Republican Reps. Peter Roskam of IL and Jeb Hensarling of Texas wrote a joint letter in June to Boeing arguing that Iran uses commercial aircraft to transport weapons, military parts, rockets and missiles to USA enemies around the world.
Sources also quoted a spokesman for Airbus as having said the company had received a USA license covering a total of 17 aircraft slated for early delivery.
As Boeing applied for a license to sell to Iran after the Airbus application, Boeing expects its approval “shortly”.
Boeing aims to sell 80 jets directly to Iran Air as part of a proposed deal valued at up to $17.6 billion.
Iran’s United Nations mission did not respond to a request for comment. State television referred to an AP report on the licenses.
The aircraft deal followed the agreement previous year between the world powers and Iran, which lifted sanctions in exchange for the country curbing its nuclear facilities and allowed the purchase of aircraft and parts. These restrictions leave very few industries able to take advantage of the newly opened Iranian market. On Sunday, state TV reported that Asghar Fakhrieh Kashan, a deputy transportation minister, said Iran would cut the number of Airbus planes to 112. That puts the value of the approved 17 aircraft in the first licence around at least $1.8bn and possibly much higher based on list prices, although buyers typically negotiate sizable discounts for bulk orders.
If he manages to materialize the Airbus deal, President Hassan Rouhani will have delivered his critics a hard blow, especially as Iran is preparing for another round of presidential election in mid-2017 when Rouhani is expected to run for a second term.
An Iran Air Boeing 747 passenger plane sits on the tarmac of the domestic Mehrabad airport in the Iranian capital Tehran in 2013.
“We applied for a USA government license that would allow us to complete the sales anticipated in the MOA”, said Boeing spokesman Marc Sklar.
The approvals from the US Treasury Department allow both aerospace giants to proceed with sales worth billions of dollars into a country that had been entirely off limits prior to the landmark 2015 nuclear deal. The legislation sought to block the Treasury Department from licensing the sales and to prevent loans from US institutions to finance the deals. The republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has threatened to tear up the nuclear deal if elected this November.
Most Iranian planes were purchased before the Islamic Revolution that ousted Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and brought Islamists to power.
The June memorandum of understanding covered the sale of 80 planes to Iran Air.
Iran Air, whose website lists 43 airplanes in its fleet, says it has direct flights to over 30 worldwide destinations, including London.
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