Three Airbus A319 planes have joined Iran’s national carrier Iran Air fleet as Tehran tries to upgrade its civilian aircraft under the US sanctions.
The airplanes registered models are EY-557, EY-558 and EY-559 that landed in Iran nearly a year ago, according to the Iranian media.
The aircraft, built in 2002, were last registered as being operated by Tajik Asia Sky Lines in 2017, as shown on airfleets.net. However, local media are reporting they were bought from Hungary. Iran Chamber Newsroom can't confirm the reports.
The flag carrier, also known as Homa in Persian, ordered 200 passenger aircraft—100 from Airbus, 80 from Boeing and 20+20 from Franco-Italian turboprop maker ATR—after a 2015 nuclear deal was reached between Iran and six major powers, according to Financial Tribune.
But the US Treasury Department revoked the licenses of Boeing and France’s Airbus to sell commercial planes to Iran Air after US President Donald Trump pulled the United States out of the agreement in May and reimposed sanctions.
An Airbus A321, two Airbus A330s and 13 ATR 72-600 turboprops, five of which were delivered hours before the first reimposition of the first batch of sanctions in August have been delivered to Iran as part of the contracts, the paper reports.
The rest of the orders have been cancelled, as OFAC revoked previously issued licenses allowing the sales of brand-new airplanes to Iran. This is while selling airplanes to Iran was among the issues directly addressed in the nuclear agreement.
Boeing never officially added Iran’s order to its list of sold jets and has said it will not pursue the deal.