ATR to Replace Iran with Alternative Clients amid US Sanctions

ATR’s co-owner Airbus has a deal with flag carrier IranAir for 100 commercial planes but it has delivered just three of them. Airbus said in July it would not attempt to deliver any more planes to Iran.

After the signing of a nuclear accord between Iran and other countries in 2015, IranAir ordered a total of 200 aircraft from Western planemakers. Boeing, which had sold 80 jets to IranAir, does not plan any deliveries.

The Europeans have been trying to portray the nuclear deal with Iran as a flagship achievement of their foreign policy and a symbol of their growing strength but their weakness in the face of US threats has undermined their bid.

Iranian officials have pressed the European Union to save the nuclear agreement through meaningful measures to guarantee Iran’s interests in the deal.

However, Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei said last month that Iranian officials should stop pinning their hopes on Europe saving the international nuclear deal.

“There is no problem with continuing relations and negotiations with Europe, but hope should be abandoned regarding matters such as the nuclear deal,” he said in a meeting with President Hassan Rouhani and members of his cabinet.

Ayatollah Khamenei is the champion of a resistive economy which seeks to counter sanctions through increasing the country’s resilience to outside pressures by boosting domestic production.