Iran has reached a deal to buy 100 planes from U.S. planemaker Boeing, and the two sides are awaiting approval by U.S. Treasury authorities, the head of Iran's Civil Aviation Organisation said in remarks published by state media on Sunday.

So far, Boeing has only been granted permission to present its products to IranAir and a handful of other airlines as it tries to catch up with Europe's Airbus, which won a provisional deal earlier this year for 118 jets worth US$27 billion.

Reuters reported on June 6 that Iran was edging toward a historic agreement to buy jetliners from Boeing for the first time since the 1979 Islamic Revolution and that a deal for more than 100 aircraft could be reached fairly soon.

"Of the 250 (passenger) planes in Iran, 230 have to be replaced," Ali Abedzadeh, the head of Iran's Civil Aviation Organisation, told the state-run daily newspaper Iran, adding that a written agreement had been signed with Boeing to buy 100 aircraft.

Abedzadeh said that no precise timeline could be given for the implementation of the deal before an authorization is issued by the U.S. Treasury Department.

He said Boeing had submitted an official request to the U.S. Treasury for a final permit for the plane sales and "the final contract is to be signed between the two sides after the license has been obtained."

In January, IranAir agreed in to buy 118 jets worth US$27 billion at list prices from Airbus. The deal was conditional on U.S. export licenses because of the quantity of U.S.-built parts.

In comments about the Airbus purchases, Abedzadeh told the Iran newspaper "The final obstacle in this area are only the permits from the U.S. Treasury Department."

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