Partner Eric McClafferty was featured in the Aviation International News article “U.S. Could ‘Amend, Modify, Revoke’ Airliner Exports to Iran.” The article notes that licenses the U.S. government granted to Airbus and Boeing last fall to sell airliners to Iran Air could be “amended, modified or revoked at any time.” During his campaign for the presidency, Republican Donald Trump denounced the July 2015 nuclear agreement with Iran that made the sales possible, and the previous Republican-ruled House of Representatives—now still under Republican control—voted to block any financing of aircraft sales to Iran.

The article goes on to note that, while a broad prohibition of U.S. sales to Iran still applies, the multinational Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) concluded in July 2015 to ensure that Iran’s nuclear program remains peaceful allowed for exports to that country of commercial passenger aircraft and related parts and services. On Jan. 16, 2016, the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) implemented a “favorable licensing policy” allowing civil aircraft sales to Iran provided the transactions do not involve persons on its Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons (SDN) list. Trump portrayed the JCPOA with Iran as “disastrous” and promised to dismantle the agreement. While the fate of the resulting aircraft export licenses may be the Treasury secretary’s call. Eric said that, “My guess is that if the President wanted to say ‘we’re rescinding this license,’ he could convince the secretary of the Treasury to do that.”

To read the full article, please click here.

Aviation International News Features Partner Eric McClafferty on Airbus, Boeing Export Licenses