Boeing billion dollar Iran sales could be squashed

USA Today:

Boeing has government approval to fill Iran Air's $16 billion aircraft order, but it may still be grounded by Congress.

And President-elect Trump, who has criticized the Iran nuclear accord that allowed the deal to take off, could eventually have a say, too.

The Chicago-headquartered Boeing said Sunday that it will sell 80 jetliners worth $16.6 billion to Iran Air. Boeing got approval to sell planes in Iran in September but had to wait for a license for the Iran Air deal from the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control.

This would be the largest business deal that a U.S. company had done with Iran since President Obama signed an executive order lifting sanctions against the country. That order came after Iran agreed to end its pursuit of nuclear weapons under an accord reached in July 2015 with the United Nations Security Council members — the U.S., Britain, China, France and Russia — and Germany.

But Boeing's deal could face opposition in Congress and the White House. “We will aggressively fight this deal in next Congress, though we probably won't even need new legislation to do it,” said David Pasch, communications director for Rep. Peter Roskam, R-Ill. “The incoming appointees at Treasury and State will no longer report to a White House willing to bend over backward and ignore national security concerns (in order) to keep Iran from walking away from the nuclear deal.”

In May, Roskam, along with fellow Illinois Republican Reps. Robert Dold and Randy Hultgren, sent a letter to Boeing asking the company not to do business with Iran until it renounces support for terror groups. Last month, the House of Representatives approved a bill that would prevent the Treasury Department from giving U.S. banks the licenses to help Boeing complete the transactions. Since Obama would likely veto the bill, it hasn't moved in the Senate.
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With Iran's history of using passenger jets to move weapons for its proxy forces in Syria and Lebanon, there is ample reason for concern.  I guess the upside is that Boeing will get back some of the money Obama gave Iran.  Iran is run by a group of genocidal religious bigot and that is reason alone not to trust Iran.