Boeing Supplies Plane Parts To Iran After 35 Years

Boeing has sold airplane parts to Iran Air, national flag carrier of Iran, for the first time since the 1979 hostage crisis between Iran and the US,Anatolian News Agency reported Thursday. 

Boeing has stated in a report that it generated approximately $120,000 in revenues and overall $12,000 net profits during the third quarter of 2014 from Iranian contracts.

"During the third quarter of 2014, we sold aircraft manuals, drawings, and navigation charts and data to Iran Air," Boeing’s quarterly report stated.

Boeing hasn’t supplied to Iran since 1979 after sanctions were imposed on its aviation industry.

The US government issued a license allowing Boeing to provide aircraft spare parts that are for safety purposes to Iran in April this year. Boeing is still not allowed to sell new planes to Iran. 

The company said the parts were purchased "consistent with guidance from the US government in connection with ongoing negotiations between the “P5+1 nations” the U.S., Britain, China, Russia, France and Germany and Iran related to, among other things, the safety of Iran’s civil aviation industry." 

The company added that it may engage in additional sales to Iran in the future. 

In November 1979, months after the establishment of the Islamic republic, Iranian students stormed the US embassy in Tehran and took 52 diplomats hostage and held them captive for 444 days. After the incident US applied tough sanctions to Iran and lasting until today. 

Talks between Iran and the P5+1 have led to a deal calling for Tehran to scale back its nuclear activities in exchange for the easing of economic sanctions. The talks have been running since last November.