Expect OFAC Freeze on Approvals of Aircraft Exports to Iran to Continue, Boeing Trade Attorney Says
The Office of Foreign Assets Control has “frozen” the granting of licenses for aircraft exports to Iran for about the last year, and likely won’t issue such licenses for the foreseeable future, Boeing global trade controls chief counsel Frederick Shaheen said during a Practising Law Institute export controls conference Dec. 15. Boeing has had licenses pending approval with OFAC as it has publicly announced agreements with Iranian airlines to export aircraft, Shaheen said, including deals with Iran Aseman Airlines (see 1704100063) and Iran Air (see 1612190043). “It’s a different time politically; everything is frozen,” he said. “Until there’s some definition on what this [Trump] administration wants to do going forward, I don’t think anybody’s going to be getting licenses.”
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Several congressional lawmakers are working to advance legislation that would make it “so onerous” to do transactions with Iran that the benefits of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) will be diminished and companies will no longer go through the effort to do business with Iran and Iranian firms, Shaheen said. President Donald Trump decertified the JCPOA on Oct. 15, punting major decisions on the deal’s fate to Congress.