Boeing (NYSE: BA) CEO Dennis Muilenburg told CNBC Monday he sees "significant opportunity" in selling aircraft to Iran, but noted that the company must follow the U.S. government's lead.

Speaking at the Farnborough Air Show in London, Muilenburg said Boeing is simply asking for "equal treatment" — if Boeing is denied a license to do business with Iran, no U.S. company should be allowed to sell planes to the country, he said.

Ahead of this Thursday's one-year anniversary of the Iran nuclear deal, which ended international sanctions, the Republican-led House last week approved measures aimed at blocking U.S. companies from selling commercial passenger aircraft to Tehran.

Last month, Boeing announced a deal to sell about 80 planes to Iran Air at list prices of $17.6 billion.

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

— Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

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