Tehran, Iran, July 23
By A. Shirazi - Trend:
An Iranian deputy minister said Tehran would not terminate its contacts with global aviation giants Airbus, Boeing and ATR.
“We prefer to preserve our contracts with Airbus, Boeing and ATR for the time being,” Asghar Fakhrieh Kashan told ILNA news agency on July 23.
He added that the government could put the deals on hold for 12 months as new circumstances may ultimately be seen in the future.
The global aviation giants are seeking to cancel the contracts under the US pressure and we are in talks with them to dissuade them, Kashan further said.
Iran Air and the French-Italian aircraft manufacturer ATR spent months negotiating an order for 20 ATR 72-600 aircraft worth $576 million at list prices, with options for another 20.
During a January 2016 visit to Paris by Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, Tehran signed a major contract with Airbus worth about $27 billion to buy 118 planes.
Later in June 2016, Iran sealed another deal worth around $25 billion with the US aerospace heavyweight, Boeing, for the purchase of 100 passenger planes.
In December 2016, the deal with Boeing was finalized, allowing Iran to buy 80 planes within 10 years.
Iran has so far imported only about 11 aircraft, three from Airbus and eight from ATR.
In a speech from the White House on May 8, US President Donald Trump pulled his country out of the JCPOA, which was achieved in Vienna in 2015 after years of negotiations among Iran and the Group 5+1 (Russia, China, the US, Britain, France and Germany).