Tasnim – The CEO of Iran Air said ATR aircraft manufacturer has requested permission from the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the US Department of the Treasury for the delivery of the turboprops Iran has purchased.

Farzaneh Sharafbafi told Tasnim on Saturday that the delivery of the remaining ATR turboprops to Iran requires a permission from the OFAC.

“The ATR company has applied for US permission for the delivery of the planes, and we are waiting to see whether they (Americans) respond or not,” she said.

In December 2018, Sharafbafi had made it clear that Iran Air would not back off from any of the contracts to purchase passenger planes from Airbus.

She announced that Iran has received a total of 16 passenger planes since the 2015 nuclear deal took effect, including three from Airbus and 13 from Franco-Italian turboprop maker ATR.

The US decision to withdraw from the 2015 nuclear deal with Tehran, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), and reinstate sanctions resulted in the collapse of about $38 billion in plane deals between Tehran and Western firms, with Airbus suffering greater damages than its US rival Boeing.

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 that year, 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.