TEHRAN- Iran’s national flag-carrier airline Iran Air signed a contract for purchasing 20 turboprop passenger planes from the French-Italian aircraft manufacturer ATR in mid-April and three planes of the kind will be delivered to the country in three weeks, Managing Director of Iran Air Farhad Parvaresh announced, Mehr news agency reported on Tuesday.

The agreement was signed in Tehran between Parvaresh and the CEO of ATR Christian Scherer.

According to the contract, four of the accorded 70-seat ATRs were supposed to be delivered to Iran within a month from the date of the signing agreement and five ones of them were to be received by 2017 yearend. The rest will arrive by the end of 2018.

ATR has reportedly vowed to assist Iran with training pilots and providing technical services, too.

Jointly owned by Airbus and Italian company Leonardo, ATR said the deal is worth $536 million at list prices. 

The contract with ATR follows deals between Iran Air and plane giants Airbus and Boeing for 180 passenger jets.

It is signed after months of talks that required navigating a way through separate U.S. sanctions and regulations still in place.

HJ/MA