Chinese Company Sells Iran Airbus Jets at Quadruple the Price

A Chinese company sold Iran two Airbus A330 aircraft for nearly four times their market value in an oil barter deal, Iranian media reported on Sunday.

ILNA news agency reported that HAOKUN ENERGY – a little-known firm – traded the planes, which are worth less than $30 million each, for $116 million in exchange for Iranian oil.

Former Roads and Urban Development Minister Mehrdad Bazrpash said the purchase was made during the Ebrahim Raisi administration.

Iran has been unable to modernize its ageing aircraft fleet for years due to international sanctions that restrict aircraft and parts sales.

The 2015 nuclear deal temporarily eased restrictions, allowing Iran to negotiate aircraft purchases, including a reported 100-plane deal with Boeing that was canceled after the U.S. withdrew from the agreement in 2018.

ILNA reported that HAOKUN ENERGY has not settled significant debts to Iran and became involved in projects including the second phase expansion of Tehran’s Imam Khomeini Airport, valued at about $2.5 billion, which the company abandoned.

The firm was also supposed to enter railway projects, train car purchases, electrification of the Tehran-Mashhad railway and aircraft purchases through oil barter deals, none of which happened, according to the report.

China has become one of Iran’s few oil customers amid tightened sanctions, typically purchasing Iranian crude at steep discounts through unofficial channels to circumvent restrictions.

Iran and China signed a 25-year cooperation agreement in 2021, though its details have never been officially disclosed.