Despite a host of unanswered questions, national security concerns and political barriers, Boeing announced on June 22, 2016 that it has signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with state-owned Iran Air. If finalized, the agreement would mean that Boeing could sell up to 100 commercial aircraft to Iran, at a cost of roughly $25 billion.

Boeing reportedly obtained a license from the U.S. Department of Treasury, Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) to execute the MOA and engage in the negotiations that led to its signing. (OFAC is the U.S. government agency that administers most U.S. economic sanctions on Iran.) That authorization was made possible due to a new licensing policy relating to commercial passenger aircraft that OFAC issued in January 2016, following the July 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) between the United States and its allies and Iran. The JCPOA significantly scaled back sanctions against Iran.Continue Reading Iran Update: The Significance of the Boeing Deal