Boeing Says If Congress Blocks Its Iran Jet Deal, Rivals’ Should Be Halted Too: Some members of Congress are vehemently against selling commercial airliners to Iran -Kathryn's Report

The Wall Street Journal
By JON OSTROWER
July 10, 2016 12:24 p.m. ET

LONDON— Boeing’s commercial jetliner chief said Sunday that if its deal to sell Iran passenger aircraft is blocked by the U.S. Congress, all other U.S. companies that supply to its rivals should be prohibited as well.

Ray Conner, the chief executive of Boeing’s commercial jetliner unit, said in a media presentation Sunday on the eve of the biennial Farnborough Air Show outside of London that any effort to legislatively block its 80-jet deal with Iran Air shouldn’t unfairly disadvantage the plane maker against its rivals.

The U.S. House of Representatives last week passed amendments that would block the use of Department of Treasury funds for granting licenses for export or re-export of commercial passenger aircraft and their parts and services as enabled by the six-nation Iran Nuclear Deal. A further amendment would prohibit any U.S. financial institution from participating the export of passenger aircraft to Iran.

Airbus has said it, too, requires Washington’s approval to export airliners to Iran because the planes involve U.S.-made parts.

The global business of selling jetliners means U.S. firms such as engine makers and providers of other components contribute significantly to the designs of Boeing’s biggest rivals like Europe’s Airbus Group SE. Airbus in January signed a cooperation agreement for 118 jetliners for Iran’s airlines.

The amendments passed last week by the House “will be between Congress and the administration and we’ll follow the lead of which the government tells us what we can do and what we can’t do,” Mr. Conner said. “If we’re not allowed to go forward, then sure as heck no other U.S. company should be allowed to go forward either. That would mean any other U.S. supplier to any other manufacturer.”

Boeing’s deal, worth $17.6 billion at list prices, has drawn vehement opposition from members of Congress who believe that delivering commercial aircraft to the Islamic Republic’s airlines would be equivalent of bolstering its armed forces and its sponsorship of terrorism.

Iran has sought to modernize its decrepit fleet of airliners, decimated by years of sanctions that prohibited it from acquiring new jets or buying spare parts from their manufacturers. The promise of renewed airlines in the Islamic Republic has been used as a significant incentive to enticing Iran to abide by the terms of the nuclear deal, which went into effect in January.

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