Most of the issues in the way of financing the agreement Iran signed with French planemaker Airbus back in January for the purchase of 118 planes have been resolved, announced Iran’s deputy transport minister on Monday. “Three days ago, we started negotiations with Airbus to sign the contract,” Asghar Fakhrieh Kashan was also quoted as saying by Mehr News Agency. Although some European banks and insurance institutes have expressed willingness to cooperate with the $10.5 billion deal, Airbus and Tehran have so far failed to finalize a contract. The agreement entails procurement of short-, medium- and long-haul planes for state-run carrier Iran Air, in the form of rent-to-own purchases. Iran Air CEO Farhad Parvaresh earlier said the airline has reached “preliminary agreements” with a German bank to finance the accord. He did not name the bank.
