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Bloomberg
Airbus announced on Wednesday that the U.S. government has granted it a license to sell the first 17 airplanes involved in a landmark deal with Iran made possible by last year’s nuclear agreement.
The announcement comes as Iranian leaders and U.S. officials are gathered this week in New York for the United Nations General Assembly and serves as a sign that the outgoing administration of President Barack Obama will honor the economic terms of the accord.
Airbus received the license from the U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, Airbus spokesman Justin Dubon told The Associated Press. He said the first 17 planes will be A320s and A330s. He declined to offer a breakdown of how many of each are involved in the initial sale, but said Airbus hoped to receive a second license allowing it to sell the remaining planes to Iran.
Though based in Europe, Airbus was required to get the U.S. Treasury’s approval for the deal as at least 10 percent of Airbus components are of American origin.
On Sunday, Asghar Fakhrieh Kashan, a deputy transportation minister, told reporters that he expected U.S. permission for all aircraft purchases “by the end of September” and that several airplanes would arrive by mid-March.
In January, national carrier Iran Air signed agreements to buy 118 planes from Airbus, estimated to be worth some 22.8 billion euros ($25 billion). The deal included 21 A320ceos, 24 A320neos, 27 A330ceos, 18 A330neos, 16 A350-1000s and 12 double-decker A380s.
Base model A320s are currently listed at an average of $98 million, while A330s start at $231.5 million.
That puts the value of the approved 17 aircraft in the first license around at least $18 billion and possibly much higher based on list prices, though buyers typically negotiate sizable discounts for bulk orders.
Most Iranian planes were purchased before the 1979 Islamic Revolution that ousted Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and brought Islamists to power. Out of Iran’s 250 commercial planes, 162 were flying in June, while the rest are grounded due to lack of spare parts.