Iran leader in Rome boasts nation now most stable in region

Transport Minister Abbas Akhoondi told journalists Tehran would discuss details with Airbus next week and was also interested in negotiating with USA plane maker Boeing for aircraft.

He said Iran was in talks with the United States on the possibility of reopening direct air routes, which were cut after the 1979 hostage crisis that ended all diplomatic ties between the two countries.

The trip is Rouhani’s first visit to Europe and comes as Iran – with its most open stance toward the west in decades – seeks to increase commercial and political ties as a way to gain support for his internationalist politics. Hassan Rouhani is using the first state visit by an Iranian president to Europe in almost two decades to boost his country’s economy, now that a nuclear deal has led to the lifting of sanctions. But the nuclear sanctions were lifted on January 16 after Iran met its obligations under the deal it reached last summer with six world powers.

The purchase of 114 aircraft will “most likely” be made by the National Development Fund, Ahmadreza Bayati Doosti, vice president of global cooperation at Iran Airports Company, said in an interview.

Rouhani and the pope spoke for 40 minutes in the pontiff’s private study in the Vatican’s Apostolic Palace and then the president held talks with top Vatican diplomats.

Delegates said Sunday’s barrage of announcements appeared designed not only to underscore Iran’s economic potential but also to encourage US planemaker Boeing, whose executives were absent from the Tehran conference, to enter formal negotiations.

Due to long waiting times for new jets, Iran is also looking at buying four out-of-production long-haul A340s on the second-hand market, which can be placed into service without delay.

Airbus has not commented on the reports.

Akhoundi’s deputy, Asghar Fakhrieh Kashan, told AFP that Iran “essentially wants to buy Airbus A320s, A321s and A330s”.

The U.S. still maintains many sanctions on Iran linked to human rights and terrorism. Earlier he visited Saudi Arabia – Iran’s regional rival and a fierce critic of the nuclear deal.

“Things are going faster than we expected”, said Bertrand Grabowski, a managing director at Germany’s DVB Bank, adding Iran had set out a regulatory regime comparable to Europe’s. It has several airlines that will need to be upgraded and expanded.

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