The US Treasury Department has granted approval to Airbus and Boeing to sell planes to Iran Air, after economic sanctions imposed on Iran have been lifted.

Following the approval, Boeing will be able to deliver 80 aircraft, which Iran agreed to buy in June.

The treasury department license also includes 29 aircraft to be leased by Boeing to Iran Air.

"These licenses contain strict conditions to ensure that the planes will be used exclusively for commercial passenger use and cannot be resold or transferred."

In January, Airbus also entered a $26bn contract to deliver 118 planes, including 12 A380 super-jumbo jets to Iran.

With the recent US approval, Airbus will be able to sell 17 commercial aircraft to Iran and expects to sell the rest of the 101 planes over the next couple of weeks, reported CNNMoney.

With the new aircraft, Iran Air aims to modernise its ageing fleet as it is gradually becoming unsafe to operate.

The country was unable to purchase new aircraft due to longstanding sanctions, which were lifted after Iran agreed to curb its nuclear programme.

 A US Treasury Department spokesperson was quoted by AFP as saying: "We have issued the first two licenses for the export of certain commercial passenger aircraft to Iran under this new policy to Boeing and Airbus.

"These licenses contain strict conditions to ensure that the planes will be used exclusively for commercial passenger use and cannot be resold or transferred."

Airbus and Boeing have so far not announced a date to deliver the planes to Iran, which is forecasted to require between 400 and 500 commercial jets over the next decade.