Airbus, the French-Italian aircraft manufacturer ATR, and American aviation giant Boeing have already approached Iran to fund the purchases, Abedzadeh said on Sunday.

He added that talks to choose the financer were underway, noting that the three financiers have shown great interest.

ATR signed a firm contract with Iran Air for 20 turboprop aircraft and options for a further 20 planes early this year.

In January, Iran signed a major contract with Airbus worth about $27 billion to buy 118 planes.

Iran also sealed a deal in June worth around $25 billion with Boeing for the purchase of 100 passenger planes.

In similar remarks on Sunday, CEO of Iran Air Farzaneh Sharafbafi said Airbus will fund the country’s purchases of the planes.

She added the issue is set to be discussed during an upcoming meeting with Airbus officials in the Iranian capital, Tehran, on December 17.

Sharafbafi further referred to a recent bill approved by US lawmakers which will bring the sales of American planes to Iran under the close scrutiny of the Congress.

It would require the Treasury Department to report to Congress on Iranian purchases of US aircraft and how those sales would be financed.

The CEO of Iran Air said the bill may delay the issuance of licenses for sales to Iran by the US Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), but will not “affect” the process of purchasing the planes.

US media reported that the new Congress bill had once again brought into the spotlight the question whether undermining plane sales to Iran would break US commitments under the Iran nuclear deal, also known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

Iran and the Group 5+1 (Russia, China, US, Britain, France, and Germany) on July 14, 2015, reached a conclusion over the text of the JCPOA.

The accord took effect in January 2016 and was supposed to terminate all nuclear-related sanctions against Iran all at once, but its implementation has been hampered mainly due to US policies.

Traders said the sale was said to have been made by a small trading house believed to be from Russia, according to Reuters.

“The main grain houses did not participate because of the problems in gaining trade finance from banks for Iran,” one exporter said.

“Banks were unwilling to provide the bid bonds and performance bonds requested in the tender. We will have to wait and see whether shipment to Iran is actually feasible in this tender,” the exporter added.

Offers in the latest tender were submitted on Nov. 29 and were opened on Dec. 2, traders said.

The soymeal can be sourced from Argentina or Brazil only.

Shipment was sought in two 60,000-ton consignments, one for shipment between Dec. 22, 2017, and Jan. 21, 2018, and the other between Feb. 9 to March 11, 2018.

SLAL has taken a back seat in Iran’s grain purchasing in recent years and its renewed activity is seen as another sign the country’s grain imports are returning to traditional patterns after anti-Tehran sanctions were removed following the 2015 nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

The 159-page nuclear agreement was reached in July 2015 and came into force in January 2016.