Speculations are growing in the United States that a recent “historic” agreement between Iran and the American aviation giant Boeing will lead to outcomes more than just sales of planes.
Elizabeth Rosenberg from the Center for a New American Security has told the National Public Radio (NPR) that international companies – that are currently skittish about violating the remaining sanctions against Iran – will be watching closely how the agreement between Iran and Boeing proceeds.
“The real test will be to see if Iran is able to carry this deal through. Will they be able to work out the financing?” Rosenberg, herself a former sanctions expert at the US Treasury Department, has told the NPR. “That’s a huge ‘if’ and it’s probably the hardest part of this.”
Commercial aircraft are one of the very few products US companies are allowed to sell to Iran. Even so, a deal has to be done without using American dollars or the US financial system. This creates a problem even for international companies that want to sell their products to Iran because most foreign banks have partnerships with US banks, the NPR added.
That is why all eyes are on Boeing to see if they can find innovative ways to pick through this financial minefield, such as using euros, it added.
“Without somebody pushing for it, nothing will happen,” the NPR has quoted Adam Pilarski, vice president of Avitas, an aviation consultancy group, as saying. Pilarski has emphasized that the administration of President Barack Obama will likely “guide Boeing through myriad restrictions”.
“Boeing is a huge company. It has meaning to the US economy…. And Boeing also has many lawyers. It wants to push things through,” he said.