Press TV- Deputy Transport Minister Asghar Fakhrieh Kashan says Iran has forgone plans to buy passenger planes from Japan�s Mitsubishi.�

The official first confirmed back in July 2016 that Iran sought to buy over two dozen planes from the Japanese industrial giant.

Fakhrieh Kashan, however, said on Friday that �there is no chance of reaching an agreement with this company (Mitsubishi) at present and the purchase of aircraft from it is out of question.�

Mitsubishi Aircraft � the aviation arm of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries - began market surveys into Iran in September 2015, four months before sanctions were lifted on the Islamic Republic, according to Japan�s Nikkei newspaper.

The paper said at the time that flag carrier Iran Air was weighing to purchase 80 70-seat Mitsubishi Regional Jets and using them for domestic routes.

Last week, Iran received four ATR 72-600s as part of a deal with the French manufacturer to buy 20 passenger planes.

Iran Air finalized the deal with ATR last month for 20 twin-propeller aircraft worth $536 million at list prices, with an option to buy 20 more.

The country has also signed billion-dollar deals with Boeing and Airbus to replace and upgrade its commercial fleet.

Airbus delivered three of the 100 airliners ordered by Iran earlier this year, including two long-haul A330s and a smaller A321, but Boeing's deliveries will not begin before 2018.

Fakhrieh Kashan said Iranian airlines continue their efforts to buy commercial jets from international manufacturers.


[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="555"] Iran's Deputy Transport Minister Asghar Fakhrieh Kashan[/caption]
�Ministry of Transportation is trying to cooperate with the companies which are open to providing finance possibilities and pave the way for reaching final agreements,� he said.

Negotiations with other manufacturers for purchase of planes were also continuing, and there were �great hopes� that the talks would produce a final deal, Fakhrieh Kashan said, without specifying those companies.

Brazil's Embraer, the world's third largest maker of commercial, is said to be aiming to sell at least 20 of its E-195 jets to the Islamic Republic under a deal estimated to be over $1 billion.

Embraer said last November that�it was awaiting a US license for the sale to Iran of sensitive jet engine technology in its planes.