Iran announces deal worth billions to buy up to 100 Boeing aircraft

Iran has announced that it has reached a deal worth billions of dollars with Boeing for the purchase of as many as 100 airplanes, in what would be a historic business agreement with the US.

Abbas Akhondi, the minister for roads and urban development, was quoted by local media as saying that Iran had already struck the deal which is aimed at renovating the country’s ageing air fleet after years of sanctions.

Boeing told the Guardian on Wednesday that had “been engaged in discussions with Iranian airlines approved by the USG about potential purchases of Boeing commercial passenger airplanes and services”. The company declined to discuss the details of the deal, but did say that any deal reached will ultimately “be contingent on US government approval”.

Barack Obama lifted the United States’ ban on selling aircraft parts to Iran almost exactly six months ago, though approval by the US government will still be required before the deal can take place. When the ban lifted in January, deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes told a Bloomberg News luncheon that no sales could move forward until the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) certified Iran’s compliance with the comprehensive nuclear deal hammered out between the nation and a consortium of governments including the UN security council and the EU. The IAEA signed off on Iran’s part of the deal in May.

The US secretary of state, John Kerry, refused to comment on the reports when questioned by reporters after a meeting with his Iranian counterpart, Mohammad Javad Zarif, in Oslo.

But Akhondi said that the details of the Boeing deal will be publicised within “upcoming days”, according to the semi-official Mehr news agency.

Despite the removal of nuclear-related sanctions against Iran in January following last year’s landmark nuclear accord, American businesses are still prohibited from trade with Iran due to primary sanctions relating to terrorism or human rights. A special license is needed to make sure that the company or those associated with the deal would not fall foul of the US regulations.

Boeing had been jockeying to sell airplanes to Iran ever since sanctions were lifted, especially after it was announced, during President Hassan Rouhani’s visit to France earlier this year, that Tehran ordered 118 commercial passenger planes from its main rival, Airbus, in a deal worth €22bn (£16.8bn).

Boeing has also supported thawing US relations with Iran; the Iran Group thinktank, which focuses on preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, counts among its members Thomas R Pickering, until 2006 a senior vice-president for international relations at Boeing after a long career in the state department.

The Airbus deal, which Iran used as an opportunity to show that it was ready to do business with the world after the nuclear deal, included 12 Airbus A380s, the world’s largest jet airliner. Iran’s shopping list from the French manufacturer included 73 wide-body and 45 single-aisle aircraft in total.

But Iranian authorities signalled at the same time that the country needed as many as 500 new aircraft in order to bring its fleet up to date. Iran also has ambitions to transform Tehran’s Imam Khomeini international airport into a regional hub. Talks have been under way with a French company for the development of its second terminal.

“Iran’s air fleet should operate 400 mid-range and 100 short-range planes to keep up with ever-increasing pace of competitions in the region which will translate into making lump sum of $50bn in investments into the economy,” Akhondi said, according to Mehr.

The exact details of the Airbus deal remain unclear – particularly how it will be financed: big European banks still refuse to handle Iranian payments despite Kerry’s recent efforts to reassure them that dealing with Tehran is now permissible.

Bankers, especially those working for institutions with a sizable US presence, are concerned about existing US sanctions, and uncertainty over the US presidential elections.

Reacting to comments by the Republican party’s presumptive nominee, Donald Trump, Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said on Tuesday: “If the threat from the American presidential candidates to tear up the deal becomes operational then the Islamic Republic will set fire to the deal.”

The Iranian foreign minister, Zarif, said earlier this week before meeting Kerry that Washington needed to do more to encourage the banks. The governor of the central bank of Iran told the Guardian last month that it still remained locked out of the global financial system.

Trita Parsi from the National Iranian American Council (NIAC) welcomed the news about a pending deal with Boeing. “For too long, ordinary Iranian lives have been placed at risk because sanctions have prevented Iran from repairing and replenishing its civilian airline fleet,” he said. “This has directly led to Iran suffering from one of the worst airline safety records in the world, with thousands of deaths over the last few decades.”