US cuts off nose to spite its face, banning Boeing deal with Iran

NSS translation with a foreword by Vince Dhimos

Remember when Trump pleaded to maintain good relations with a country that tortured a US resident to death because of jobs?

Do you think a multibillion dollar contract with Boeing would have created a few jobs for Americans?
 
President Trump ripped up a deal between Iran and Boeing worth $16.6 billion. Forced to look elsewhere for planes to modernize its fleet, Iran turned to Russia. I leave it up to the reader to savour the irony of the US throwing away billions by sending a client to Russia for a lucrative deal.
 
Sometimes it almost seems as If the US is intentionally weakening its economy. For instance, the government is promoting fracking even though almost all oil and gas companies are losing money in this field due to the expensive processes involved and the short lifespans of the energy fields. To artificially float these energy companies, a bill was passed in 2017 that actually gave the most hard-hit companies tax credits that cost taxpayers millions of dollars. Yet, as we showed here, fracking is inherently a losing proposition and barring a miracle, will never pay for itself.
 

From Quora:
https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-typical-productive-life-time-of-a-horizontally-fracked-well


“While [fracked] shale gas wells have a long life, they drop down to about 10% of their initial production after about 5 years or so.”



Jacqueline George, Author of Fracking 101 A Beginner's Guide to Hydraulic Fracturing
Answered Oct 16, 2016


“… I can say that the production flush for a new shale well is very short lived and by two years the wells are typically limping along.”

This real-world science-based info on fracking is why the purely economic picture looks so dismal, with most US oil operations running in the red or showing near-negligible profits, as reported, for example, here.
 
Further, the trade war with China and the sanctions on Russian oil and gas trade, and the sanctions intended for the EU are tempting these countries to create a method to circumvent the sanctions, notably the Special Purpose Vehicle that substitutes for SWIFT. The upshot will be less use of the dollar in world trade settlements. Iran and Venezuela have already virtually halted dollar use in trade settlements, and Russia recently sold its S-400 to India with payment specified in rupees.
 
The endless wars costing trillions of dollars and trashing the confidence of US allies are another example of how the US is shooting itself in the foot.
 
Either Washington officials are brain dead or they are stealthily seeking to destroy their country for some unknown reason.
 
And then there is the irresponsible debt exceeding GDP, with no hope of ever paying it down, and the endless arms boondoggles, as described here.
 
The US could actually be prosperous again it if swallowed its pride and joined China in its lucrative investments related to One Belt One Road, and if it stopped investing in trillions in weapons to use against Russia, and simply admitted to itself that neither China nor Russia is a real enemy of the US people. Nor is Iran, which, BTW, never cut the limbs off a living, screaming human being.

I guess you have to be an extreme torturer and murderer to give jobs to Americans.
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Below is our translation from Russian of an article appearing in EADaily.
 
After breakdown of contracts with Boeing and Airbus, Iran turns to Russian SSJ-100
 
Iran's national airline, Iran Air, is seeking opportunities to replenish its fleet of passenger liners with the purchase of aircraft from foreign manufacturers outside the US and Europe. The Russian side with its short-haul Sukhoi Superjet 100 (SSJ-100) is considered the most suitable partner in this deal. According to Reuters, this was reported on Saturday, November 3, by the executive director of Iran Air Farzane Sharafbafi.
 
According to her, Tehran needs to establish commercial relations with those aircraft manufacturers that are not dependent on the supply of components from the United States and the granting of licenses by the US government. “We will be happy for those (foreign) companies that can supply the necessary aircraft for Iran Air. We are ready to purchase (Russian) SSJ-100 or other liners produced not in European countries,” said Sharafbafi.
 
Recall that on May 8, when US President Donald Trump announced his country's withdrawal from the international agreement on the Iranian nuclear program*, US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin announced the revocation of licenses to supply Boeing and Airbus aircraft to Iran. Thus, the United States imposed a ban on deliveries to Iran of European Airbus liners, which is based in Toulouse, France, due to the fact that most of the components are made in the United States.
 
In January 2016, Iranian authorities announced plans to purchase more than 200 Boeing and Airbus aircraft. This decision was associated with the lifting of the US and European Union sanctions as a result of the conclusion of a nuclear deal in 2015, which did not allow the Islamic Republic to purchase passenger liners, or spare parts for them, in order to modernize its heavily worn air fleet. In December of the same year, it became aware of the conclusion of a contract for the purchase of 80 aircraft between the national carrier Iran Air and Boeing. The amount of the transaction was about $ 16.6 billion.
 
Iran is interested in purchasing aircraft SSJ-100 and intends to proceed to procurement after the resolution of issues regarding the supply of components. This was reported on October 22 by the Iranian ambassador to Russia, Mehdi Sanai, in an interview with Izvestia. “With regard to the SSJ-100, Iran is interested in acquiring planes like these. We need smaller aircraft, as Iranian airports in the provinces cannot accommodate large planes, ”the diplomat told the publication, adding that for three years Iranian airlines had been sending requests to the manufacturer of the SSJ-100 pursuant to purchasing the aircraft.
 
However, for the implementation of the supply, the company must obtain permission from an American supplier of some components. “I really hope that this issue will be resolved. In any case, now we are talking about reducing dependence on US components. The Iranian side is waiting for this issue to be finally resolved making it possible to proceed with the procurement,” the Iranian ambassador said.
 
According to him, two memoranda of understanding have already been signed with the manufacturer Sukhoi Superjet. In addition, Sanai noted that Iran has the most serious intentions of developing cooperation with Russia in the fields of aviation, space, construction of power plants, railway transport and others.
 
* Joint Comprehensive Action Plan (JCPOA) - agreement on the Iranian nuclear program, concluded in July 2015 between the United States, Russia, China, the United Kingdom, France, Germany and Iran.
 
Read more: https://eadaily.com/en/news/2018/11/03/posle-sryva-kontraktov-s-boeing-i-airbus-iran-vernulsya-k-rossiyskim-ssj-100
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