TEHRAN (Dispatches) - Iran’s transportation Minister Muhammad Eslami says two global planemakers Airbus and Boeing have started works to return to contracts they signed with the country several years ago and before the United States imposed its sanctions on Tehran.
Eslami said that Airbus and Boeing have been waiting for the results of ongoing talks in Austrian capital Vienna on Iran’s nuclear deal as they seek to resume their contractual obligations regarding Iran.
"The plane-manufacturing companies are returning from the previous path and beginning to implement the terms of the contracts,” Eslami said.
Iran had placed orders for purchases of 200 brand new planes from Airbus and Boeing after it signed a nuclear deal with global powers in 2015.
However, the plane contracts came to halt in 2018 after the US Treasury banned the two planemakers from supplying the jets to Iran.
Eslami did not elaborate what clear steps the two global planemakers had taken to revive their contracts with Iran.
He said that Iranian airlines that are parties to the plane purchase deals had written to Airbus and Boeing to force them to return to the contracts or face legal actions.
"It has been emphasized in these correspondences that the plane-manufacturers should honor their obligations,” said the minister, "The companies are waiting for developments in Vienna.”
Iran took delivery of only three Airbus planes and 13 short-haul airliners from French jet maker ATR in August 2018 just before the U.S. sanctions were enacted.
Iranian airlines have relied on overhauls and chartered jets to perform their flights over the past years.