Manawatu Standard

Jet sale falls through as planes are ‘too American’ for Iran

Russia/iran

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A US$2 billion (NZ$2.9B) deal to sell dozens of Russian passenger jets to Iran has fallen through because they are ‘‘too American’’.

Two Iranian airlines each agreed last year to buy 20 of the flagship Sukhoi Superjets, but the deal has been put on hold indefinite­ly because the aircraft have so many American parts that they require a US export licence.

President Donald Trump reimposed sanctions on Iran after announcing in May that he was pulling the US out of a key nuclear deal with Tehran.

That put an end to plans for the US giants Boeing and Airbus to sell 180 passenger craft to Iran, and created an opportunit­y for Moscow to fill the void.

Maqsoud Asadi Samani, the secretary of the Associatio­n of Iranian Airlines, told Iran’s INLA news agency that Russia had been ‘‘unable’’ to reduce the proportion of US parts in the Superjets to below 10 per cent, which would allow them to be sold without a licence.

‘‘It appears that due to the lack of a licence issued by the US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, the arrival of the planes is out of the question for now,’’ he was quoted as saying.

Iran Aseman Airlines and Iran Air Tours wanted to buy the jets, which can carry 98 passengers.

The Superjet’s manufactur­er, Sukhoi Civil Aircraft (SCAC), confirmed yesterday that it had not received a response to its request for a US export licence.

‘‘By the end of 2018 the company received neither positive nor negative feedback,’’ it said.

Alexander Rubtsov, president of SCAC, said in November that the company was delaying sale of the Superjets while it tried to reduce the per centage of American components from 22 per cent to below 10 per cent.

The Sukhoi Superjet 100 is the first newly designed passenger aircraft built by Russia since the end of the Soviet Union.

– The Times

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