Sweeping U.S. sanctions on Iran's aviation sector took effect Wednesday, cutting Iranian airlines off from key international destinations. They are the latest blow to a regime already under heavy military and economic pressure.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced on Monday that the measures would shut Iranian carriers out of international operations from September 23 by threatening secondary sanctions against any company that services them. Foreign firms that provide Iranian aircraft with fuel, ground services or ticket sales now risk losing access to the U.S. dollar system. "All the Iranian airlines will be shut down around the world," Bessent told CNBC.
The impact was felt immediately. Iran's Tasnim news agency quoted a civil aviation spokesman as saying that "Baghdad and Muscat airports will no longer accept Iranian flights." Iranian aviation authorities are reportedly trying to reroute Baghdad flights to Najaf, a major pilgrimage destination. Talks with Oman are also underway. A senior Iraqi official told AFP that Baghdad would comply with the ban.
Other countries had already moved before the deadline. Georgia barred Iranian carriers on Monday, and Mahan Air said it had suspended its services to Turkey at the request of the Turkish government. Tasnim nonetheless insisted that other international flights, including to Istanbul, would operate as scheduled.
Washington says Iran's airlines are far from ordinary civilian carriers. According to the U.S. Treasury, Iranian airlines have been used to transport weapons, personnel and equipment supporting the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Mahan Air in particular has been sanctioned for transporting IRGC personnel as well as weapons and drones.
Although the United States cannot close foreign airspace, aviation analysts say that targeting local refueling and ground-handling providers achieves much the same result by stripping Iranian carriers of the support they need to operate.
The new measures deepen the isolation of Iran's aviation sector. Iran has 27 airlines, most of them flying domestic routes. Iran Air and Mahan Air are the only major carriers operating international flights, mainly to neighboring countries as well as Russia and China. Iran Air's once extensive European network has largely disappeared under years of sanctions.
Iran's airspace was fully closed after the U.S. and Israel launched strikes on Iran in late February. Traffic has since partially resumed, but Iranian carriers are the only airlines flying passengers out of the country, so the new sanctions leave Iranians with even fewer ways to travel abroad.
