Iran plane deals threaten boost in support for Assad

By Michael Hernandez

WASHINGTON (AA) - Leading aviation companies are pushing ahead with the planned sale of commercial aircraft to Iran despite fears they could be helping Tehran airlift weapons and troops to the Syrian government.

Aircraft giants Boeing and Airbus are leading the field in supplying Iran with hundreds of passenger jets following the lifting of sanctions last year, even though U.S. lawmakers and others have raised concerns the planes could be used by Iran to support Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and prolong the country’s five-year civil war.

Both companies, as well as others such as Brazil’s Embraer, confirmed to Anadolu Agency that they would be pursuing deals.

However, Boeing's agreement with Iran has run into opposition in the U.S. Congress where Democrat Brad Sherman is among a group of lawmakers highlighting Iran’s use of commercial aircraft to support Assad.

According to the UN’s Syria envoy, Staffan de Mistura, the conflict has resulted in at least 400,000 deaths while millions have fled their homes as foreign powers such as Iran and Russia have thrown their weight behind Assad.

Under a proposed multibillion deal between Boeing and Tehran, Iran Air would buy 80 passenger jets as well as receive Boeing’s help in leasing 29 new Boeing 737s.

According to reports, Airbus is seeking to sell 118 aircraft to Tehran, which has said it wants to buy up to 500 aircraft over the next decade in the wake of last year’s Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) agreed with international powers to lift sanctions in exchange for greater oversight of Iran’s nuclear program.

The U.S. Treasury Department issued a general license for aircraft sales to Iran in March, opening the door for talks to begin with Iran Air, which was delisted two months prior.

The airliner was originally designated in 2011 for helping to facilitate arms shipments to the Syrian government.

Despite the lifting of sanctions, Emanuele Ottolenghi, a senior fellow at the Washington-based Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, said Iran remains a state sponsor of terrorism and its commercial aircraft routinely violate international rules by transporting arms and military personnel to Syria.

He warned that aviation companies were at risk of being complicit in Iran’s support for Assad and could damage their reputations by dealing with Tehran.

- 'Lethal assistance'

“It's not just the planes,” Ottolenghi told Anadolu Agency. “It's the spare parts, the technical assistance, the knowledge, the maintenance -- all things that Iran Air can transfer to other airlines now under sanctions, or even to the military, facilitating their operations.

“You can't recall those kinds of services once you provide them to Iran Air.”

Although the proposed aircraft sales are with flag-carrier Iran Air, Ottolenghi had previously said it was likely aircraft would be sold on to other Iranian airlines including Mahan Air, which remains under U.S. sanctions.

Writing in Forbes magazine last week, he described Mahan Air as the “primary airline running illicit flights to Damascus” on a daily basis. The flights provided military support to Assad’s own forces, as well as Lebanon’s Hezbollah and Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, both of which are fighting alongside Syrian regime troops.

In June, Sherman, the congressman who has strongly opposed the Iran deal, wrote to Secretary of State John Kerry, Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew and Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker to warn that Iran Air’s planes would “undoubtedly be used in the future to continue to funnel lethal assistance to Assad, to Hezbollah and to other terrorist entities”.

In an article for the Los Angeles Daily News earlier this month, he said that Iran used civilian airliners “to ferry arms and fighters to aid Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria, assistance that has been critical to keeping that mass murderer in power. There have been hundreds of suspicious ‘civilian’ flights between Iran and Syria since the deal was signed”.

The House of Representatives has already moved to block the Boeing sale by passing amendments that would bar the Office of Foreign Assets of Control (OFAC) from using funds to authorize a special license for the sale.

A second amendment bars U.S. financial institutions ​​from providing Iran with loans to finance their purchase.

If the measures are unexpectedly signed into law, the effects could reach far beyond U.S. firms, said David Pasch, an aide to Rep. Peter Roskam, who, like Sherman, has opposed the JCPOA.

"The sense I’m getting from aviation experts is it’s kind of sink or swim for everybody," he said referring to all international firms seeking to sell aircraft to Iran.

That is due to the fact that "more than 10 percent" of airplane components that would be used are made in the U.S., Pasch said.

- Obama sign-off

However, the House's measures need Senate approval before they face the much more unlikely prospect of being signed off by President Barack Obama.

To allay concerns among U.S. lawmakers, Boeing Senior Vice President Timothy Keating sent a letter to House Republicans in June in which he said the U.S. government had “made clear” during the nuclear negotiations that providing Iranian airlines with replacement passenger aircraft was “key and essential” to the agreement.

The company has a “vigorous compliance mechanism”, Keating added, noting that the company relies on information from the government to remain compliant.

Boeing spokesman Tim Neale told Anadolu Agency the company would “continue to follow our government’s lead going forward” and added that any agreements “must be subject to U.S. government approval”.

Justin Dubon, a spokesman for France-based Airbus, said: “Airbus is working with the U.S., EU, UN and all relevant authorities to ensure all activities are undertaken in full compliance with applicable international laws and regulations.

“In addition, Iran Air will have to abide with the conditions of the JCPOA and of OFAC licenses. The JCPOA limits the use of licensed aircraft strictly for commercial civil purposes.”

In a statement to Anadolu Agency, Embraer, which is reportedly negotiating to sell Iran 50 planes, said the company “wants to tap” the Iranian aviation market and “start to develop a relationship” with the airlines. “With a population of 80 million people, Iran is certainly an important market for aviation with a big need to re-fleet its jet fleet,” the statement added.

Ottolenghi, though, remained skeptical of the assurances. “Given Tehran’s continuing role as the chief sponsor of the Syrian regime, there is no reason to believe a firewall can be erected between Iran’s continuing airlift to Assad and Iran Air’s commercial flights,” he wrote in Forbes magazine.

*Senabri Silvestre, Hajer M’tiri, Mahmoud Barakat contributed to this report from Santo Domingo, Paris and Ankara, respectively.