Iranian MPs urge action after U.S. ban on aircraft sales

September 17, 2017 - 20:10

TEHRAN - Senior Iranian lawmakers have called for an action after the U.S. House approved new measures on Wednesday that block the sale of commercial aircraft to the Islamic Republic.

The measures would specifically prevent the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) from clearing licenses for aircraft sales and prohibit the use of funds for financial transactions.

Alaeddin Boroujerdi, chairman of the Iranian Parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, on Sunday called the move a “clear violation of the JCPOA,” using the official name the nuclear accord, Press TV reported.

“It should be acknowledged that the sale of aircraft to Iran is specified in the JCPOA text and annex,” Boroujerdi said.

He reminded that the measures had to go through the Senate and also be signed off on by the U.S. president before becoming law, “but the whole issue is wrong in the first place and needs to be corrected.”

The rest of the countries, which have signed the nuclear deal -- the UK, France, China, Russia, and Germany -- and also the United Nations Security Council which has approved the JCPOA, should also protest the U.S. move, Boroujerdi suggested.

The lawmaker further urged the Iranian committee tasked with monitoring the accord’s implementation to take “serious decision” versus the violation.

MP Mojtaba Zonnour, who heads the Parliament’s Nuclear Committee, said the U.S. measures defied the letter of the nuclear agreement.

“One of the things that has been explicitly mentioned in the JCPOA is the lifting of sanctions on the sale of airplanes and parts and after-sales services,” the MP stated.

The U.S. House measures violate the Iranian people’s rights, said the lawmaker as he urged action against any future attempts by the U.S. to breach the nuclear deal.

“In our view, the JCPOA has been violated again. The supreme supervisory board on the implementation of the accord should announce its view and make a decision on this matter and decide on what action to take.

“Of course, Majlis (Parliament) will also be acting on its own responsibility and will decide on this issue at the first meeting of the National Security and Foreign Policy Committee.”

Zonnour further touched on the U.S. Treasury's announcement of economic sanctions on Thursday against 11 individuals and companies for allegedly supporting the country’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps. 

“Definitely, the Treasury's bans are new sanctions and are among the instances of the violation of the JCPOA,” he said.

Under President Donald Trump, the U.S. has imposed several rounds of new sanctions against Iran in a move which many believe are aimed at provoking the Islamic Republic to abandon the nuclear accord.   

Alireza Manzari, a former deputy chief of Iran’s Civil Aviation Organization, said Boeing had signed its contract for sales of passenger aircraft to Iran Air before the new sanctions were imposed, and that the new U.S. law could not potentially affect past agreements.

Nevertheless, the U.S. company could refrain from turning over the aircraft if the law came to include former provisions, he added.


 

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