Iran MPs urge action after US ban on aircraft sales

Rasa - Senior Iranian lawmakers have called for action after the US House approved new measures on Wednesday that block the sales of commercial aircraft to the Islamic Republic.

News ID: 432485

Date: 17 September 2017 - 21:23

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

Chairman of the Iranian Parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Committee Alaeddin Boroujerdi on Sunday called the move a “clear violation of the JCPOA,” referring to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action as the nuclear accord with Iran is known.

"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 US 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 US move, Boroujerdi stated.

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 US 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," said the MP.

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

"In our view, the JCPOA has been violated again. The high 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 Commission."

Zonnour further touched on the US Treasury's announcement of economic sanctions on Thursday against 11 individuals and companies in Iran for allegedly supporting the country’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) and other charges.

"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 US 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 US law could potentially not affect past agreements.

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

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