Licenses for the companies to sell passenger jets to Iran are going to be revoked, US Treasury Secretary�Steve Mnuchin�said. Easing sanctions such as this was a major inducement get Tehran to sign the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) in 2015 under President�Barack Obama�and stem the growth of its nuclear weapons programme. However, Mr Trump said today that it was a �rotten deal� and did not go far enough to ensure Iran�s compliance.
As the�Washington Post�reported: �The aircraft�sales�were among the most-sought-after contracts for Iran�.
Boeing specifically had signed its deal for the commercial aircraft sale in December 2016, under the nuclear accord, and it was worth $17bn. The Airbus deal, signed the same month, was worth $19bn. The company also has a separate $3bn�deal with Iran�s�Aseman�Airlines.
IranAir had ordered 200 passenger aircraft - 100 from Airbus SE, 80 from�Boeing�and 20 from Franco-Italian turboprop maker ATR - and all were dependent on US licenses since more than 10 per cent parts and labour came from US companies like�United Technologies, Rockwell Collins and General Electric.�This means even European manufacturer Airbus will have to review its sales contracts as a result.
The US Treasury Department, which controls the licensing of exports out of the US, said the sales of these aircraft have to end in 90 days on 6 August 2018. "Under the original deal, there were waivers for commercial aircraft, parts and services and the existing licenses will be revoked,� Mr Mnuchin noted.
�These are very very strong sanctions; they worked last time. That�s why Iran came to the table,� he said.
After 6 August, the Treasury also said it would revoke a license that allowed US companies to negotiate business deals with Iran. The�Boeinglicense had been valid until September 2020, a person involved in the deal told Reuters.
Boeing spokesman Gordon Johndroe said the company will �continue to follow the US government�s lead� on the matter. It may be possible for the company to request a waiver but the Treasury Department has been unclear about which companies or what kind of waiver could be granted.
"That's something we'll consider on a case-by-case basis, but as an overview, I would say that the purpose is to broadly enforce the sanctions," he said, adding that the administration's objective was to deny Iran access to the US financial system.
Boeing�Chief Executive Dennis Muilenburg said last month the airplane manufacturer had no Iranian deliveries scheduled this year.