Iran does not require the Americans’ permission to buy the Sukhoi Superjet-100

The US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has imposed sanctions on Iran which require aircraft manufacturers selling planes to Iran to first obtain its permission if the aircraft contains more than 10% components sourced from the USA.

However, Maqsoud Asadi Samani, Secretary of the Association of Iranian Airlines, said on Monday that Sukhoi has made sufficient modifications to its Superjet-100 to circumvent this restriction.

Speaking at a Sukhoi-sponsored event in Tehran last Monday, Asadi Samani elaborated that the aircraft manufacturer was determined to wrest a greater share of the Iranian market from its western competitors. Further, he considers the Superjet-100 to be ideal for Iran given its need for smaller regional jets and that it is very competitively priced at about 20 million Dollars each.

As a consequence of the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, the nuclear non-proliferation agreement between Iran, the USA, the EU and the other members of the United Nations Security Council, Iran has been compelled to buy Western aircraft from manufacturers such as Boeing and Airbus.

In 2016, Iran placed a large order with Airbus for 118 aircraft worth about US$ 27 billion, and a similar order with Boeing for 100 aircraft for about US$ 25 billion, to be delivered over a ten year period.