US House Votes to Ban Aircraft Sales to Iran
Jeff Edwards November 22, 2016
The Congressional body voted largely along party lines to put an end to plans to allow Boeing and Airbus to sell new passenger planes to Tehran.
Republicans in the US House of Representatives won a 234-174 vote calling for an end to quickly advancing plans to allow Boeing and Airbus to sell commercial planes to Iran. The bill still must be approved by the US Senate where the measure faces an uphill fight. Even if the legislation manages to clear the upper chamber of Congress, it would almost certainly be met with a veto from President Obama.
Right now, sanctions on Iran are being gradually eased following the regime’s agreement last year to suspend the country’s nuclear program. The sale of commercial airplanes, however, still requires specific approval from the US Treasury Department or else those transactions cannot be legally processed by banking institutions subject to US regulations.
“We need to make sure that the American financial system is not complicit in this deal,” Illinois Representative Peter Roskam (R) told the Associated Press (AP) following the vote. ”We need to make sure that American taxpayers are not subsidizing this deal.”
Only hours after the mostly symbolic vote by House members, Reuters reported that anonymous administration sources confirmed that European aircraft manufacturer Airbus would receive license to sell 106 planes to Iran Air. The Treasury Department had previously authorized Airbus to sell 17 planes to Iran. The company based in France requires Treasury Department permission because key parts of the planes would be manufactured in the US. Boeing has likewise received license from the Treasury Department and Iran’s flag carrier has already placed orders for as many as 100 planes from each company this year alone.
It is widely agreed that an incoming President-elect Donald Trump would not require a legislative solution to suspend the sale of commercial planes to Iran. After his inauguration, he could simply order the Treasury department to revoke the licenses allowing the aircraft makers to sell the planes to Tehran.
[Photo: WIKIMEDIA COMMONS]
Most planes are bought through the Import-Export Bank. Thus American taxpayers in general do subsidize these purchases.
In keeping with a fact-less presidential campaign, this bill exists even when there is no indication that American taxpayers would be subsidizing the deal.