Rep. Bill Huizenga
The House of Representatives recently approved legislation that U.S. Rep. Bill Huizenga (R-MI) introduced to bar U.S. financial institutions from financing aircraft sales to Iran.
The legislation, H.R. 5711, also included language from a bill introduced by U.S. Rep. Peter Roskam (R-IL) to prohibit taxpayer dollars from being used to finance aircraft sales to Iran through the Export-Import Bank.
“Under President Obama’s nuclear deal with Iran – formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA – the administration agreed to authorize the export of civilian aircraft to Iran,” Huizenga said. “What the JCPOA did not include was authorization for U.S. financing of those sales.”
In September, the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control licensed Airbus and Boeing to sell up to 97 planes to Iran Air, the county’s main state-owned carrier.
“These licenses didn’t stop there, however,” Huizenga said. “By going beyond the scope of the JCPOA, they also authorized U.S. financial institutions ‘to engage in all transactions necessary to provide financing or other financial services’ related to the Iran Air orders.”
Huizenga’s bill would prohibit the secretary of the Treasury from authorizing U.S. financing through American banks in connection with the export of commercial aircraft to Iran.
Language from Roskam’s bill would also prevent the Export-Import Bank from using tax dollars to subsidize direct sales of aircraft to Iran, as well as third party leasing.
Iran has a history of using commercial aircraft to transport weapons, missiles, troops, and cash to the Assad Regime in Syria, while it continues its ballistic missile program and support for international terrorism, Roskam said.
Speaking in support of the bill, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) said the measure goes beyond extending sanction authority against Iran.
“American taxpayers should never subsidize the sale of aircraft to a regime that is a state sponsor of terror and will likely use those aircraft to further their regional ambitions,” McCarthy said. “We cannot reward Iran as it continues to undermine regional stability.”