Boeing Co. Signs $25 Billion Deal with Iran

JERUSALEM, Israel – In what's being touted as the most lucrative business transaction between Iran and the United States since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, Boeing Co. signed a $25 billion deal with Iran Air for 100 airplanes.

It's a considerable turnaround from June 2011, when the Obama administration imposed sanctions preventing U.S. companies from doing business with Iran Air.
Those sanctions, imposed not long after the start of the Syrian civil war, were based on Treasury Department reports that Iran Air had transported military paraphernalia, including missiles and rockets, to Syria and other destinations.

"The IRG [Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps] is also known to disguise and manifest such shipments as medicine and generic spare parts," Treasury officials stated at the time.

But the Obama administration found a way to drop the sanctions as part of the nuclear deal with Iran, which also authorized the Treasury to allow U.S. firms to do business with Iranian civilian aviation companies such as Iran Air.

In a further twist, The Daily Beast reported midweek that U.S. Ambassador Thomas Pickering, a strong supporter of the Iranian nuclear deal, is also a paid consultant to Boeing, though that information was never revealed during the negotiations with Iran.

The Times of Israel reported that Secretary of State John Kerry has lobbied foreign banks to resume doing business with the Islamic Republic.