Xinhua - Iran will hold an international tender to find financers for its plane purchases from the aviation giants Airbus and Boeing, Press TV reported on Sunday.

The national flag-carrier "Iran Air is preparing the tender documents so that they would be sent to all credible financers across the world," Asghar Fakhrieh Kashan, Iran's deputy minister of road and urban development, was quoted as saying.

"We are in conditions that allow us choose our desired financers in a competitive atmosphere," Fakhrieh Kashan was quoted as saying.

Britain's key export credit agency, UK Export Finance (UKEF), has proposed a plan to Iran to facilitate the financing of aircraft purchases from Boeing and Airbus, he said, adding that the UKEF has announced that it could resolve any banking problem that might occur as a result of U.S. pressures.

The agency has announced that it would even provide cash for the purchases if they would face problems with banks regulations, he said.

Iran will hold the tender to provide the funds for its purchases through competitive mechanisms so that it would not have to rely on one single source, Fakhrieh Kashan said.

Following the implementation of Iranian nuclear deal in September 2015, Iran started negotiations with major international commercial plane manufacturers to renew its aging fleet.

In December 2016, Iran sealed a contract with Airbus to buy 100 aircraft worth over 18 billion U.S. dollars.

Also in December, Iran Air finalized another agreement with the U.S. Boeing to purchase 80 commercial planes.

The agreement envisages the purchase of 50 twinjet narrow-body Boeing 737 planes and 30 long-range wide-body 777 aircraft with a total value of 16.6 billion dollars.

Last month, Iran signed another contract with the French-Italian ATR company to purchase 20 passenger planes.