The Iranian government has said today, May 11, that European planemaker Airbus will announce its decision on whether it will sell planes to Tehran within the next few days. This comes right after the United States said that it would revoke the export license required by plane makers to sell commercial aircraft to Iran. Airbus, being European, uses the components and technology from the U.S.
Iran has imported at least 11 planes, three of which are from Airbus (the remaining eight from ATR, the Franco-Italian turboprop maker). Asghar Fakhrieh-Kashan, senior advisor to the Roads and Urban Development Minister of Iran, said that the government didn’t make any down payment for future deliveries.
As for the American withdrawal, President Trump pulled the nation out of an international nuclear deal. This move was made last Tuesday, May 8, and is potent enough to raise conflicts in the Middle East. It can even upset European allies of the U.S., and all global oil supplies may not be as smooth as expected.
In the nuclear deal initiated in 2015, Iran restrained its nuclear program in return for lifting most of the international non-nuclear sanctions that were imposed on the country. The imposing had kept the nation’s economy paralyzed for years. Most of these sanctions were lifted in 2016.
During the talks with Airbus and Boeing we did not consider any possibility of such exit from the deal and it was not mentioned in the contracts. – Fakrieh-Kashan
He is a former deputy minister involved in related contract negotiations.
National flag carrier IranAir has ordered 200 passenger aircraft in total, which includes 100 from Airbus, 80 from Boeing, and 20 from ATR. The corresponding deals depend on the American license as the plans heavily consist of parts from the U.S. Additionally, it is worth mentioning that other Iranian airlines as well have made orders.
