Representative from French planemaker Airbus and its American rival Boeing, which recently acquired a vital US license to sell jetliners to Iran, will travel to the Islamic Republic in the coming week to pursue talks with Iranian airlines, announced Minister of Roads and Urban Development Abbas Akhoundi on Saturday.
“Talks over legal issues regarding acquisition of planes from these companies will continue so that we can facilitate the purchasing process,” the minister was quoted by IRNA as saying.
Airbus and Boeing said on Wednesday they had received US Treasury approval to begin exporting over 200 jets to Iran, under a deal struck in January.
Airbus won approval to export the first 17 jets in a $27 billion transaction announced in January as economic sanctions were eased. Boeing is still finalizing terms to provide as many as 109 jets to Iran Air.
> Dissenting Voices Continue in US
Meanwhile, Republicans in US House of Representatives Pete Roskam and Jeb Hensarling wrote to Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control, which oversees sanctions, saying they will keep campaigning against Boeing and Airbus jetliner sales to Iran, despite the Treasury Department's announcement that it had begun issuing licenses for the exports.
Both congressmen hold influential financial positions in the House. Hensarling is chairman of the House Financial Services Committee while Roskam is chairman of the tax-writing Ways & Means Committee's oversight subcommittee, Reuters reported.
Some members of Congress have raised concerns that killing the deal could cost jobs at Boeing plants, but opponents of the deal keep opposing it all the same.
Boeing rose on the news, advancing 2.2% to $130.56 at the close in New York, tied for the biggest gain on the Dow Jones Industrial Average.
Akhoundi said the Islamic Republic needs to add 500 passenger planes to its fleet within the next 10 years to renovate its fleet with an average age of more than 20 years.
