Bahrain Mirror: The United States said on Tuesday it had issued a second license to France's Airbus to sell commercial planes to Iran Air, the company said on Tuesday. This brings Iran a step closer to receiving new Western jets under its January deal to ease sanctions with the Western powers.

"We confirm that we have received our second license from the US Office of Foreign Control Assets following the agreement [with iran Air] signed in January 2016 in Paris," Airbus told AFP news agency in a statement. 

In September, Airbus received a US approval to sell 17 planes, with a second license covering the rest of the order; AFP quoted an unnamed source as saying. The planes included A320 and the long-range A-330 jetliners and was worth between 10 and 11 billion dollars.

Hoping to replace its aging fleet, Iran agreed to purchase planes from Airbus, around 118 planes, with a deal worth $10-$11 billion. While it also agreed with Boeing last June on an agreement protocol, through which the US company sells Iran around 110 planes.

Both companies, Airbus and Boeing, require US treasury approval before finalizing the deals.

By virtue of the nuclear deal between the world powers and Iran in July 2015, over Tehran's nuclear program, part of the economic sanctions imposed on Iran were raised as of mid-January. This gave Iran the ability to carry on oil trade and facilitate trade transactions with the European Union.

With the aforementioned licenses to buy planes, Iran would have the opportunity to renew its aerial fleet, although no timeline was set for the delivery of the airplanes.

Arabic Version