Iran has received the first plane purchased from the European giant aircraft maker Airbus following a landmark nuclear deal reached between Tehran and the six world powers.
Iran Air Chairman Farhad Parvaresh took delivery of the new A321 in Colomiers near the French city of Toulouse on Wednesday.
The 189-seat plane, painted in Iran Air’s livery, is the first of 100 planes purchased under a December deal worth $18 billion.
“Today marks a great day for this company as well as the relation between Iran and the European Union,” Parvaresh said at a ceremony to take delivery of the plane.
Parvaresh said that Iran Air hoped to receive “at least two more from Airbus” by the start of the Iranian new year in March, and a total of six A320 aircraft in 2017.
Iran signed the deal with Airbus to purchase planes after the US removed a ban on selling Iran passenger aircraft and spare parts following the nuclear agreement signed between Tehran and the P5+1 group of countries in July 2015.
Under the nuclear deal, dubbed the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), Iran undertook to put restrictions on its nuclear program in exchange for the removal of nuclear-related sanctions imposed against the country.
Iran’s flag carrier has also signed a similar deal with Boeing for 80 jetliners that will not be expected to arrive in the country until 2018. Iran Air is also expected to seal an order for 20 turboprops from Europe’s ATR.
The heads of the Muslim states and members of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC)…
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian says all crew of an Israeli-owned Portuguese-flagged ship recently seized…
Dozens of universities in Iran have offered free scholarships to the students who have been…
A 4-year-old Iranian child has been found five days after going missing in the country's…
Pro-Palestine students at campuses across the United Kingdom have set up encampments demanding that their…
Tel Aviv has threatened that it will retaliate against the Palestinian Authority (PA) if the…