SEATTLE — Following President Donald Trump’s scrapping of the Iran nuclear deal Tuesday and his imposition of what he called “powerful” sanctions, Boeing’s prospective sale to Iran of jets worth $9.5 billion is effectively dead for the foreseeable future.
For Boeing, it’s a lost opportunity rather than a blow to current plans.
Two Iranian deals for 110 aircraft got the go-ahead in the waning days of President Barack Obama’s administration in 2016.
But given Trump’s hawkish views on Iran before he took office, Boeing always saw the deals as tenuous. It has not delivered any airplanes and never firmly booked the orders.
In a statement immediately after Trump’s announcement, Boeing said it “will consult with the U.S. government on next steps. As we have throughout this process, we’ll continue to follow the U.S. government’s lead.”
The potential sales were an order from Iran Air for 50 single-aisle 737 MAX 8s, 15 large current model 777-300ER widebody jets and 15 next-generation 777-9X widebodies, plus an order from Iran Aseman Airlines for 30 MAXs.
At list prices, those are valued at just shy of $20 billion. However, according to market pricing data from aircraft-valuation consultancy Avitas, the true value after standard industry discounts is about $9.5 billion.
While the 777 and 777X orders in particular would have been very welcome to help sustain Boeing’s 777 production rate and to bolster prospects for the new 777X, chairman and chief executive Dennis Muilenburg said last month that production plans would be unaffected if the Iran deal were killed.