The US House of Representatives has passed a bill barring the Secretary of the Treasury from authorising certain transactions by a US financial institution in connection with the export or re-export of commercial passenger aircraft to Iran.
H. R. 5711 was passed on Thursday, November 17, by 243 against 174 votes with 17 abstentions. It also features a retroactive clause revoking any authorizations enacted by the Secretary of the Treasury before the bill's date of the enactment.
The bill also prohibits the US Export-Import Bank (EXIM Bank) from offering either direct or indirect financing that could benefit Iran.
Given its passage in congress, the bill will now head to the US Senate for debate where, if successful, it will head to the President's Office for final confirmation. Current president Barack Obama has, however, said he would veto the bill, saying it would undermine the nuclear deal signed with Iran earlier this year.
Since then, both Airbus (AIB, Toulouse Blagnac) and Boeing (BOE, Washington National) have been granted export licenses by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the US Department of the Treasury.
Javad Hashemi Tehrani, the managing director of the Aviation Parts Holding Company of Iran, told the IRNA news agency last week that Airbus will deliver a total of seventeen A320 Family and A330 Family aircraft to Iran by April of next year. Financing for the deal has been sourced through the Dubai Aerospace Enterprise, the report added.
One of the first jets to be delivered to IranAir (IR, Tehran Mehrabad) is reportedly A321-200 (sl) EP-IFA (cn 7418). However, given that Airbus (and Boeing for that matter) has yet to announce a finalised agreement with the Iranians, the aircraft does not yet sport an official Iran Air livery.
