Not long after Boeing completed their deal to sell over 80 jets to Iran, Airbus has joined the game. Airbus announced Thursday that they will be selling over 100 jetliners to Iran. This transaction, along with the deal with Boeing, is in an effort to help Iran revive its air fleet which has seen turmoil in recent years due to economic depletion. Iran has reported that they will need to purchase around four hundred planes in order to refurbish their fleet.
Both deals were able to be completed because the sanctions on Iran had been lifted over a year ago. In exchange for lifting the sanctions, Iran promised to put a rein on its nuclear activity. The combination of both deals are valued at an estimated $26 billion which could bring numerous job to Americans since many of the mechanisms Airbus uses are U.S. made.
However, the agreement to lift the sanctions on Iran was not favored by President-elect Donald Trump and the rest of the Republicans. Despite Trump’s criticism, Airbus says it plans to start making deliveries early in 2017 while Boeing’s deliveries will begin in 2018. Iran hopes that Trump will see the benefits of the agreement. For example, the jobs and export options this purchase will open for the U.S. instead of seeing Iran as a terrorist nation.
The President-elect isn’t the only one with suspicions. Americans fear that if Iran violates any of the American sanctions, like the transportation of arms to Syria, this could have a negative effect on the sale with Airbus and Boeing thus negatively impacting the jobs that this purchase will bring to many Americans.
Airbus’ president Fabrice Bregier commented on the sale saying, “We hope this success signals to the world that the commercial goals of Iran and its counterparts are better achieved with international cooperation and collaboration.”
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