Country Reportedly Needs To Replace Nearly Its Entire Fleet Of Commercial Airliners

The Islamic Republic of Iran says it has reached a deal with Boeing for 100 airliners as part of a nation-wide fleet replacement program.

Reuters reports that an Iranian official told a state-run newspaper that a deal has been signed with Boeing to deliver airplanes to Iran Air and others as it tries to remain competitive with Airbus.

According to the report, the country needs to replace all but 20 of its 250 commercial airliners. The deal must be approved by the U.S. Treasury department.

But the deal has its detractors on Capitol Hill. Fox News reports that Congressmen Peter Roskam (R-IL) and Jeb Hensarling (R-TX) wrote a letter to Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg last week raising concerns about the potential sale. “We strongly oppose the potential sale of military-fungible products to terrorism’s central supplier. American companies should not be complicit in weaponizing the Iranian Regime,” the Congressmen said in the letter.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed, though industry analysts told The Washington Post that it could be worth about $17 billion.

The potential sale was made possible by the easing of trade sanctions against Iran as part of the nuclear deal made by the Obama administration with the country last year.

FMI: www.boeing.com