- As Renewed Fighting Breaks Out Across South Sudan Capital Juba
The House of Representatives has passed a measure that would block US aircraft sales to Iran, potentially undercutting a Boeing deal with Tehran worth up to $25bn.
Two approved amendments to an appropriations bill from Representative Peter Roskam would ban sales from Boeing and European rival Airbus, amid concerns the aircraft could be used for military purposes, the congressman said in a statement on Friday.
One amendment would prohibit the Office of Foreign Assets Control from using funds to authorise a license necessary to allow aircraft to be sold to Iran. A second would bar loans from US financial institutions to purchase militarily adaptable aircraft.
The ban would need to be approved by the Senate or any bill that reconciles differences in legislation by the two chambers.
Roskam, an Illinois Republican, said in a tweet that in the vote on Thursday, “House Democrats did not mount any significant opposition and, in many cases, joined efforts to block the sale.”
The news comes weeks after Boeing and Iran Air confirmed a tentative deal for the sale of passenger planes, described as a landmark for normalising the difficult US-Iran relationship.
The deal, valued at up to $25bn, would be the largest between a US business and Iran since the 1979 Islamic revolution.
Boeing said it had reached a preliminary agreement with the state-owned carrier.
The Islamic republic had been an international pariah before a nuclear deal reached last year, and the US still has some sanctions in place against Iran.
But a spokesman for the Iranian foreign ministry on Friday said the measure was “incompatible” with the accord, under which Washington was to lift economic sanctions in exchange for Tehran curbing its nuclear activities.
“We have nothing to do with US internal affairs,” Bahram Ghasemi said, quoted by the official IRNA news agency.
“We consider the government of the United States to be responsible for implementing the country’s commitments” under the accord, he said.
Boeing’s archrival, Airbus, in January reached a deal to sell Iran 118 aircraft.
French officials in April said the transaction was in the final stages of winning approval from the US Office of Foreign Assets Control, a key hurdle, because some of the aircraft components are made in the US.
Roskam and some other lawmakers have opposed deals with Iran, asserting that Tehran remains a supporter of violent jihadists around the world.
“If you wouldn’t do business with Islamic State, you shouldn’t do business with the Islamic Republic,” he said in an April opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal.
In the meantime, renewed gunfights broke out across South Sudan’s capital Sunday between forces loyal to the president and those of the vice president, officials said, causing widespread casualties and raising fears that the country is returning to civil war.
The fighting hit a U.N. camp for displaced people affected by the violence, according to witnesses.
“The condition is really very bad. We have a lot of casualties this side, I think around 50 to 60 besides those of yesterday,” said an official in the camp, who insisted on anonymity for fear of retribution.
“We have civilian casualties. We have rocket-propelled grenades that have landed in the camp which has wounded eight people.”
At least one person has died in the camp, he said, but he did not know about casualties outside where the fighting is heavy.
Reuters reported Sunday that at least 272 people had been killed in the violence.
The army confirmed the Sunday clashes but it is not clear how the fighting started, said army spokesman Lul Ruai Koang, who is in the SPLA general headquarters at Bilpham.
Government forces attacked a rebel base in the Jebel area of the capital Sunday morning, said William Gatjiath Deng, a spokesman for the rebel forces.
“Three helicopter gunships have just come now and bombed our side,” he said.
The fighting appears to be mainly in two areas: Jebel, where there is one opposition base and a U.N. base which houses thousands of internally displaced people, and in Gudele, where the rebels have another opposition base, including Machar’s compound. There have been huge explosions in Gudele and people are leaving the area by foot, said a resident, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear for her safety.
“I’ve gotten calls that I should leave but there was so much gunfire nearby I decided to stay in,” she said.
United Nations security radio reported fighting near the house of army chief of staff Paul Malong.
“The situation in Juba has significantly deteriorated,” said a statement by the United States embassy. “There is serious fighting between government and opposition forces, including near the airport, U.N. mission locations, Jebel and elsewhere throughout Juba. U.S. citizens in Juba should remain vigilant … shelter in a safe location, preferably away from doors and windows, and avoid non-essential movements.”
The U.N. Mission in South Sudan is on a high security alert with no movement of U.N. personnel whatsoever, said Shantal Persaud, spokeswoman for the U.N. mission.
Sunday’s fighting is a resumption of the conflict on Friday in which more than 100 people died. A precarious calm was restored on Saturday — the day South Sudan was to celebrate its fifth independence day — that was shattered by heavy gunfire Sunday.
South Sudan is trying to emerge from a two-year civil war caused by political rivalry between Vice President Riek Machar and President Salva Kiir.
The two leaders issued a joint call for calm after Friday’s fighting which began outside the presidential compound where Kiir and Machar were meeting and soon spread through the city.
A similar skirmish in December 2013 sparked of the civil war that killed tens of thousands of people.
Guardian with additional report from NBC
