Boeing executives offered no details a day after Iranian officials said an agreement to buy commercial planes from the Chicago-based company was essentially a done deal. Estimates say it will involve about 100 jets from Boeing and leasing companies.
Two former U.S. Treasury officials cast doubt Wednesday on the prospects of a highly touted deal between Iran and the American aerospace giant Boeing, claiming concerns about Iranian money laundering and terrorism financing activities are likely to scuttle the agreement.
Boeing Co. officials remained mum Wednesday after Iranian officials said this week that a milestone deal was imminent, the biggest by far between a U.S. company and Tehran since the signing of the landmark nuclear deal last year that lifted many economic sanctions on Iran.
But critics say the deal, strongly backed by President Obama, has failed to reduce concerns that Iran remains a vital source of funds and banking services for the world’s leading terrorist groups.
“The risks associated with doing business with Iran haven’t changed,” said Chip Poncy, who headed Treasury’s office of strategic policy for terrorist financing and financial crimes through 2013.
Eric Lorber, a former attorney in Treasury’s office of foreign assets control, said the Boeing deal will likely face the same problem that has kept a similar deal between Tehran and Airbus, Boeing’s European rival, from getting off the ground for the past seven months.
The Airbus deal to sell more than 100 planes to the Iranians made headlines in January but “still hasn’t been finalized. And one of the reasons is that Airbus has had a terribly difficult time finding a private financial institution to bank the deal,” said Mr. Lorber.

Source: The Washington Times, June 15, 2016