File photo: Xinhua

TEHRAN, Aug. 24 (Xinhua) -- Iran plans on building a 50-seat passenger plane despite a "fully-fledged war" waged by the West against the country's aviation sector, semi-official Fars news agency reported, quoting the Iranian civil aviation chief.

"We will use our entire capacities to render the sanctions ineffective or reduce their impacts," Mohammad Mohammadi-Bakhsh, head of Iran's Civil Aviation Organization (CAO), told a conference.

Three platforms for building 50-, 72- and 150-seat planes have been prepared, Mohammadi-Bakhsh said, adding the CAO will build a 50-seat passenger jet in the first step.

The idea of building a passenger plane has been on Iran's agenda since years ago, the CAO head noted.

A day earlier, Mohammadi-Bakhsh said about 40 percent of Iran's commercial air fleet are inactive because of the undersupply of parts caused by the U.S. sanctions.

In May 2018, the United States withdrew from a 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and the world powers, and reimposed its unilateral sanctions on Iran, barring the sale of passenger planes and provision of parts and technical services to the Iranian aircraft.