In a statement, Boeing spokesman Marc Sklar said, “We have received that license and remain in talks with Iran Air” based on the memorandum of agreement reached in June.
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In a June letter to the U.S. Congress, Boeing said the deal involves Iran Air buying 80 aircraft with a total list price of $17.6 billion, with deliveries beginning in 2017 and running until 2025.
Boeing faces risks and uncertain rewards as it vies with Airbus to replace Iran’s museum-vintage fleet.
European aerospace giant Airbus was the first to receive a license allowing that allows it to sell the first 17 planes in a landmark deal with Iran.
Boeing has won United States approval to sell its first jetliners to Iran in nearly 40 years, paving the way for the biggest business transaction between the two nations since the 1979 Islamic Revolution and hostage crisis.
The US manufacturer is also helping Iran Air line up another 29 planes from leasing companies.
“From today, we will have safe planes”, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani promised in January 2016 when the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPA) became fully operational.
Associated Press writer Adam Schreck contributed to this report.
The Treasury Department said in a statement on Wednesday that the licences “contain strict conditions to ensure that the planes will be used exclusively for commercial passenger use and can not be resold or transferred”.
Iran’s United Nations mission did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday.
Opponents of the Boeing deal pointed out that the Treasury imposed sanctions on Iran Air in 2011 for using passenger and cargo planes to transport rockets and missiles to places such as Syria, sometimes disguised as medicine or spare parts. The deal was made possible by last year’s historic nuclear agreement, which lifted sanctions on Iran in return for it curbing its atomic program.
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