Iran’s Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) has reportedly written to Boeing to enquire after the $16.5bn deal flag carrier IranAir made with the US plane maker in December 2016 to purchase 80 aircraft to help revamp its ageing fleet—the agreement was derailed by the heavy sanctions that then US president Donald Trump introduced against the Islamic Republic from May 2018 and just prior to Trump’s move Boeing announced it had found new homes for the jets it had hoped to deliver to Iran.

IRIB reported on February 3 that ICAO CEO Touraj Dehqani Zanganeh wrote to ascertain Boeing’s latest word on the fate of the big order, wondering whether it could be revived now that Joe Biden was US president.

Prior to the Trump imposition of sanctions, IranAir in 2016 also placed orders with Airbus for the supply of 118 aircraft and with ATR for the delivery of 20. It asked Airbus to supply 73 wide-body aircraft and 45 narrow-body planes. The contract included 21 aircraft of the A320ceo family and 24 of the A320neo family. Although the ATR and Airbus orders were also blocked by the sanctions, Airbus's director of public relations said on the sidelines of the Paris Air Show in June 2019 that the Airbus orders had not been cancelled and the desire was that these orders and other orders placed by Iranian airlines would be fulfilled once US sanctions did not preclude deliveries.

 “Iran's contract with Airbus and ATR has been suspended. Regarding the contract we have with Boeing, I have recently written a letter to clarify its fate,” Zanganeh was reported as saying.

He added: “There is definitely a possibility that the ATR and Airbus contracts will be reactivated. If an opening occurs, they will have to return to the contracts.”

Iran currently has 162 aircraft in its civil aviation fleet, according to Dehqani but urgently needs more to continue safe operations.  

Biden has said he will lift the Trump sanctions on Iran if Tehran returns to full compliance with the 2016 nuclear deal to keep its nuclear development programme entirely civilian in nature.