Obama Foreign Policy Enables Iran to Buy Eighty US Civilian Aircraft

If you’re going to make a list of nations that are friendly to the US and that can be trusted by the US, you would not find Iran anywhere near the top of that list.  Its clerical leaders never seem to miss an opportunity to make comments that are bitingly critical of the US, and which border on threatening.

Thus, is would be very easy to tell Iran to go away and quit bothering us lest it gets treated to a few dozen cruise missiles.  On the other hand, Iran is a close ally of Russia, so blowing it to kingdom come is not without considerable risks to the US.

The US also negotiated an agreement with Iran during the Obama administration.  Trump has been highly critical of that deal and has threatened to “tear it up” and start from scratch.

So the Iranian problem plainly does not have any simple solutions that don’t involve conflicts and considerable risks.  Much of this may very well be the result of the incompetence and/or duplicity of the Obama administration, but the problems remain, regardless of their sources.

Here’s what we know at this point:

Iran Air finalised a contract to buy 80 planes from Boeing, the US aerospace firm confirmed on Sunday, as it seeks to renew its ageing fleet despite sanctions.

Boeing said the contract — Iran’s first deal with a US aviation firm since the 1979 Islamic revolution — was worth $16.6 billion (15.7 billion euros).

That’s no small deal, and it has real benefits to American workers.

With the incoming administration of US president-elect Donald Trump expected to take a tough line on Iran and American lawmakers recently voting for renewed sanctions, Boeing emphasised the employment opportunities of the deal.

“Today’s agreement will support tens of thousands of US jobs directly associated with production and delivery of the 777-300ERs and nearly 100,000 US jobs in the US aerospace value stream for the full course of deliveries,” the company said in a statement

The future of 100,000 American jobs is nothing to treat lightly.  Even if Boeing is overstating the number of jobs a bit, it’s doubtful that Trump wants to be known for wiping out that many US jobs.

But the problem is that planes that transport civilians can also be converted to transport troops — in other words, to military use.  There is clearly no support in the US for funding Iran’s military, expect perhaps in the Obama administration.

Many US lawmakers have opposed the deal, accusing Iran Air of helping to transport troops and weapons to conflict zones around the region.

Alternatively, there is the problem of Iran Air operating obsolete planes that are difficult to maintain.  That has a cost in human lives, many of which are civilians, and not all of which are from Iran.

The lack of new planes and parts has taken a severe toll on Iran’s carriers over the years, earning it one of the worst safety records in the world with close to 1,700 people dying in a string of civilian and military air disasters since 1979, according to the Flight Safety Foundation.

This mixture of conflicts on the one hand is a terrific example of the problems created by the Obama administration and its appalling foreign policy failures.  On the other hand, it is a clear illustration of the sort of messes Mr. Trump is going to need to clean up,

Source:  Yahoo