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Mnuchin: US Revoking Boeing, Airbus Licenses to Sell Jets to Iran


FILE - A IranAir Boeing 747SP aircraft is pictured before leaving Tehran's Mehrabad airport, Sept. 19, 2011.
FILE - A IranAir Boeing 747SP aircraft is pictured before leaving Tehran's Mehrabad airport, Sept. 19, 2011.

Licenses for Boeing and Airbus to sell passenger jets to Iran will be revoked, U.S. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said Tuesday after President Donald Trump pulled the United States out of the 2015 Iran nuclear agreement.

Trump said he would reimpose U.S. economic sanctions on Iran, which were lifted under the agreement he had harshly criticized.

The pact, worked out by the United States, five other world powers and Iran, lifted sanctions in exchange for Tehran limiting its nuclear program. It was designed to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear bomb.

IranAir had ordered 200 passenger aircraft: 100 from Airbus SE, 80 from Boeing and 20 from Franco-Italian turboprop maker ATR. All the deals are dependent on U.S. licenses because of the heavy use of American parts in commercial planes.

FILE - Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin gestures as he answers questions during a press briefing at the White House in Washington, Feb. 23, 2018.
FILE - Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin gestures as he answers questions during a press briefing at the White House in Washington, Feb. 23, 2018.

Boeing agreed in December 2016 to sell 80 aircraft, worth $17 billion at list prices, to IranAir under an agreement between Tehran and major world powers to reopen trade in exchange for curbs on Iran's nuclear activities.

The U.S. Treasury Department, which controls licensing of exports, said the United States will no longer allow the export of commercial passenger aircraft, parts and services to Iran after a 90-day period.

"The Boeing and [Airbus] licenses will be revoked," Mnuchin told reporters at the Treasury. "Under the original deal there were waivers for commercial aircraft, parts and services and the existing licenses will be revoked."

European planemaker Airbus said on Tuesday before the Mnuchin news conference that it would study Trump's decision, adding that it would take some time.

Following the 90-day period ending Aug. 6, the Treasury also said it would revoke a license that allowed U.S. companies to negotiate business deals with Iran. The Boeing license had been valid until September 2020, a person involved in the deal said.

"As we have throughout this process, we'll continue to follow the U.S. government's lead," Boeing spokesman Gordon Johndroe said before Mnuchin's comments.

Boeing Chief Executive Dennis Muilenburg said last month the airplane manufacturer has no Iranian deliveries scheduled this year. He said Boeing's 777 production plan "is not dependent on the Iranian orders." Muilenburg is set to address the Economic Club of Washington on Wednesday.

The IranAir order included 15 Boeing 777-300ER long-range jets. Industry sources said Boeing had been tentatively due to send Iran three 777s this year, but has reshuffled deliveries with other buyers.

Shares of Boeing closed down $2.06, or 0.6 percent, at $338.37 on the New York Stock Exchange after Trump's announcement.

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    Reuters

    Reuters is a news agency founded in 1851 and owned by the Thomson Reuters Corporation based in Toronto, Canada. One of the world's largest wire services, it provides financial news as well as international coverage in over 16 languages to more than 1000 newspapers and 750 broadcasters around the globe.

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