An Iranian official said Sunday that his country has negotiated with Boeing to buy 80 new airliners for about half of the announced price, according to Reuters.

“Boeing has announced that its Iran Air contract is worth $16.6 billion. However, considering the nature of our order and its choice possibilities, the purchase contract for 80 Boeing aircraft is worth about 50 percent of that amount,” Deputy Transport Minister Asghar Fakhrieh-Kashan was quoted as saying by Iran's IRNA state news agency.

Boeing announced in June that it had signed a deal with Iran Air, the largest contract since the 1979 Iranian revolution.

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It, along with a similar deal by the company’s European rival, Airbus, are among the biggest economic opportunities in Iran since sanctions were lifted as part of the nuclear agreement between Tehran and world powers.

Chicago-based Boeing received permission from the U.S. government to move forward with the deal in September, though Republicans in Congress have made efforts to block it. Iran announced earlier this month that the Boeing deal was finalized.

Boeing, Airbus and smaller plane manufacturers have all faced a downturn in orders recently and so have been expected to offer deep discounts. Boeing said this month it was cutting production of its 777 long-haul jet due to a drop in demand, according to Reuters.

The Airbus contract with Iran Air is for 100 jets and would be worth $18 billion to $20 billion at list prices. But the head of Iran Air has said the value of the contract would not exceed $10 billion.