KRISTEN BARROS – On Wednesday, September 21, 2016, the United States put an end to decades worth of sanctions when they gave the “okay” to the direct sale of planes to Iran. American citizens will now be moving to Tehran, Iran. This will be the first time since the Islamism Revolution and the 1979 and 1980 hostage crisis[1].
Inevitably, Boeing will have to open an office in Tehran, Iran and many of our American technicians will have to take up residence there to train their newest Iranian colleagues.[2] This is a ground-breaking moment for the two countries. President Hassan Rouhani is making substantial efforts to warming relations with the West and this puts Iran one step closer to normalizing their relations with the United States.[3]
This all began when word got out that Mr. Rouhani was attending the United Nations General Assembly in New York and possibly working out deals with the largest airplane producers.[4] After the meeting took place, Mr. Rouhani said Iranian officials have already established relationships with Airbus and Boeing via “many visits” and are welcoming this international business. He continued by saying “I do not see any problems.” [5]Suggesting that if anyone else has a problem, they can resolve it on their own time.
This may seem like regular day in the international market, but it, instead, represents a huge shift in relations between these two, once opposing, countries. Relations were originally severed in the 1980s when over 100,000 Americans were forced to flee their homes in Iran.[6] Sanctions made working in Iran nearly impossible. The result was less than subtle when the once US Embassy was turning into a museum and hundreds of businesses were consequently abandoned.[7] Only a few businesses stayed such as news media organizations like Bloomberg and The New York Times. In 1995, there was a slight change when Conoco established an oil contract in Iran.[8] However, this shift made no impact when Congress created stricter sanctions forcing Conoco’s Tehran office to close.
Although this normalization gap seems to be getting smaller, it appears that there will always be forces against Westernization. Just a few months ago, police officers were forced to shut down an imitation KFC restaurant after protesters argued that chicken wings were a symbol of the western world.[9] There are still many outlets of tension and anger. With new relationships continuously forming between the countries, one can say there now seems to be a light at the end of a very long tunnel. Will these two countries truly unite? At this point, only time will tell.
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[1] Thomas Erdbrink, With Boeing Deal, Americans Are Coming to Iran, N.Y. Times (Sept. 22, 2016), http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/23/world/middleeast/with-boeing-deal-americans-are-coming-to-iran.html?_r=0.
[2] Id.
[3] Id.
[4] Id.
[5] Id.
[6] Ormar S. Bashir and Eric Lorber, Boeing’s Art of the Iran Deal, Foreign Affairs (Aug. 28, 2016), https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/iran/2016-08-28/boeings-art-iran-deal.
[7] Id.
[8] Id.
[9] Thomas Erdbrink, With Boeing Deal, Americans Are Coming to Iran, N.Y. Times (Sept. 22, 2016), http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/23/world/middleeast/with-boeing-deal-americans-are-coming-to-iran.html?_r=0.
