Airbus confirmed on Monday that it was poised to begin negotiations with Iran for the sale of dozens of new commercial aircraft, part of a raft of international business that is expected to flow toward Tehran since it agreed to curtail its nuclear ambitions and crippling economic sanctions were lifted.
“We have listened to the Iranians, and we are ready to engage in commercial negotiations,” said Stefan Schaffrath, an Airbus spokesman in Toulouse, France.
The remarks came hours after Iranian officials told journalists at a gathering of aviation industry executives in Tehran that Iran was looking to place orders for more than 100 European-made aircraft, ranging from 100-seat turboprops to the 555-seat twin-deck Airbus A380 superjumbo.
“We have been negotiating for 10 months” for the purchase of planes, but “there was no way to pay for them because of banking sanctions,” the Iranian state news media quoted Abba Akhoondi, the country’s transportation minister, as saying.