Lawmakers in both chambers of Congress are pushing for legislation that would prevent a multi-billion dollar deal between Boeing and Iran Air from being funded with taxpayer dollars. The Republican-led proposal is getting Democratic support.
The deal in question, which involves the sale of 80 passenger planes and the lease of another 29, has sparked bipartisan backlash due to concerns about Iran Air’s support for terrorism. The U.S. sanctioned Iran Air in 2011 for helping Iran’s hardline Revolutionary Guard Corps transport weapons to Iranian-backed actors like Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad. But lawmakers are also worried that the agreement could be financed indirectly with taxpayer-backed funds through the Export-Import Bank.
The Ex-Im Bank, which gives loans and loan guarantees to foreign companies looking to buy American products, is prohibited from giving direct assistance to countries that sponsor terrorism, including Iran. However, critics of the Boeing agreement argue that a loophole in current law allows Iran to acquire planes, as well as other products and services, that are financed with Ex-Im funds through a third-party intermediary.
Florida Senator Marco Rubio proposed legislation Thursday that would eliminate the possibility that Iran, or any entity associated with it, would benefit indirectly or directly from Ex-Im money. The bill is a companion to Illinois GOP congressman Peter Roskam’s “No Ex-Im Financing for Iran Act“, which was introduced in the House last week.
“Since President Obama’s Iran deal was enacted, the Iranian regime has done nothing to modify its provocative, anti-American behavior. Major Western companies, including Airbus and Boeing, have already struck deals to sell to Iran that can be used to further Iran’s promotion of terrorism,” Rubio said in a statement. “Taxpayer dollars should not be used to fund Iran’s purchase of new aircraft which it will use to ship weapons and troops to brutal regimes and terrorist groups.”
The Ex-Im legislation has received bipartisan approval. California congressman Brad Sherman, a top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, told THE WEEKLY STANDARD Thursday that the proposal is a good way to preempt the possibility of Iran benefitting from Ex-Im funds.
“At this point, I do not see any evidence that the Ex-Im Bank is planning to finance. But, you know, I have airbags in my car [and] I have no intention of bashing into a wall,” Sherman said. “It’s a very good idea to do by statute what the chairman of the Ex-Im Bank sought to do by letter. … it’s in furtherance of its chairman’s objectives.”
Rubio has spoken out against the Obama administration’s efforts at financial integration with Iran before. When the administration showed signs of reneging on a promise not to give Iran access to the U.S. financial system in March, he and fellow Republican senator Mark Kirk of Illinois urged the Treasury Department to block Iran’s access to the dollar.
Since that time, the administration’s efforts to encourage global investment and trade with with Iran have increased. Secretary of State John Kerry has led the charge, advising foreign companies on how to skirt remaining sanctions in Iran. The Obama administration is reportedly doing the same for Boeing.
“I have personally gone beyond the absolute requirements of the lifting of sanctions to personally engage with banks and businesses and others who have a natural reluctance after several years of sanctions to move without fully understanding what they are allowed to do and what they are not allowed to do,” Kerry said last month.
