Three Illinois Republicans are urging Boeing not to sell airplanes to Iran, and warned the Chicago-based aerospace company this week that such deals would facilitate state-sponsored terrorism.
“This is not about doing what is legal — it is about doing what is right,” Reps. Peter Roskam, Randy Hultgren and Robert Dold wrote in a Monday missive. “The Islamic Republic is not simply an emerging market for Boeing. It is a radical Islamic regime dominated by zealots who seek nothing less than the destruction of the United States and the shared democratic principles of the Western world.”
The letter is part an ongoing campaign by Republicans to deprive Iran of some of the benefits it might receive under the terms of the nuclear agreement negotiated by President Obama’s team, in which the regime agreed to scale back its nuclear weapons program in exchange for a lifting of sanctions that crippled the Iranian economy.
“Iran Air was only recently delisted by Treasury in what was largely viewed as a concession related to the [nuclear deal],” they wrote. “The airline is still owned and operated by a regime whose leaders have only grown bolder and brasher since the deal’s implementation. There is every reason to believe Iran Air will continue to provide logistical support for terrorism and illicit activity around the world.”
It’s unusual for lawmakers to pressure an American company that has such strong ties to their home state, but Roskam has already warned companies that engaging with the Iranian market will make them “accomplices” to terrorism. The Boeing letter contains another hint that GOP lawmakers might try to pass legislation impeding such deals.
“We will do everything in our power to prevent Iran from obtaining additional means to threaten our national security,” they wrote. “We are actively exploring legislative and other means to make sure Western companies understand the risks and repercussions of placing profits over the safety and well-being of the American people.”
