Iran-Boeing deal could nose-dive as US votes to ban

The US passed a measure to block aircraft sales to Iran on Friday, in a move that could potentially disrupt a landmark aviation deal worth up to $25 billion.

The House of Representatives approved two amendments to an appropriation bill that could ban sales from Boeing and Airbus to Tehran, citing concerns that the aircrafts could be used by Iran for military purposes, congressman Peter Roskam said in a statement on Friday.

While the first amendment would prohibit the Office of Foreign Assets Control from authorising necessary licences using state funding, the second would ban US financial institutions from providing loans to purchase militarily adaptable aircrafts.

But the ban has yet to be approved by the Senate.

A spokesman for the Iranian foreign ministry on Friday said the measure was “incompatible” with the accord, under which Washington was to lift economic sanctions in exchange for Tehran curbing its nuclear activities.

The Islamic Republic ordered about 200 planes from three Western manufacturers since mid-January, when economic sanctions were lifted following a deal on Tehran's nuclear programme

“We have nothing to do with US internal affairs,” Bahram Ghasemi said, quoted by the official IRNA news agency.

“We consider the government of the United States to be responsible for implementing the country’s commitments” under the accord, he said.

Roskam, an Illinois Republican, said in a tweet that in the vote on Thursday, “House Democrats did not mount any significant opposition and, in many cases, joined efforts to block the sale.”

Last month, Iranian officials said the country had reached an arrangement with American aerospace giant Boeing to purchase 100 aircrafts to renew its ageing fleet.

The Islamic Republic ordered about 200 planes from three Western manufacturers since mid-January, when economic sanctions were lifted following a deal on Tehran's nuclear programme.

The deal with Boeing, potentially worth billions, could mark the first major entry of an American company into the Islamic Republic.

"Both sides, Iran and Boeing, have reached a written agreement for buying Boeing airplanes," Ali Abedzadeh, head of Iran's civil aviation authority said in remarks published by the daily Iran newspaper.

Many of Iran's ageing civil aviation fleet – 230 planes out of 250 according to Abedzadeh – are in desperate need of replacement.

Parts and servicing remained nearly impossible to get while the world sanctioned Iran over its nuclear programme.

But a nuclear deal struck this year with six world powers, including the US, has lifted some of the economic sanctions on Iran in return for limits on the Islamic Republic's contested atomic programme.

Following the nuclear agreement, IranAir signed deals to buy 118 planes from the European consortium Airbus and 20 more from French-Italian aircraft manufacturer ATR.