United States Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has announced that all Iranian airlines could in effect be shut out of international operations from Wednesday as he warned companies against providing services to the country’s carriers. He warned that the sanctions are not only aimed at airlines but also at the operations chain. The announcement marked a step up in US President Donald Trump’s “Operation Economic Outcast” to squeeze Tehran’s already battered economy.
So how can the US ground Iranian airlines? And what does it mean for millions of travellers in the Middle East? Iran’s civil aviation sector has aged and fallen increasingly behind global standards due to decades-long US sanctions.
On September 8, the US sanctioned all of the country’s 27 carriers, which Washington has said “the regime uses to move weapons, personnel and illicit cargo.” The principal carriers operating outside Iran are Mahan Air, state-owned Iran Air and Qeshm Air. Smaller airlines also serve regional destinations. Mahan Air, the country’s most popular carrier, suspended flights to and from Istanbul and Ankara and between Tehran and Muscat late last week after the US sanctioned 36 foreign companies for “supporting Iran’s aviation sector” as a warning.
That warning has now become de facto US policy, starting on Wednesday, Bessent said. Mahan Air has the broadest international network among Iranian carriers. It flies to destinations in China, India, Iraq, Pakistan, Thailand and the United Arab Emirates in addition to now-suspended services to Turkiye and Oman.
Iran Air, the national flag carrier, once had an extensive European network that has in effect disappeared due to sanctions, fleet constraints and disruptions caused by the US-Israel war on Iran. Current route data showed just three international destinations: Najaf and Baghdad in Iraq and Istanbul. Taher Abdolhai, Iran Air’s chief executive, said in an interview with the Iranian news site SehatKhabar that the economic pressure on the country’s aviation sector was spreading “like metastasising cancer”.
Abdolhai said at least 30 aircraft belonging to different carriers have been damaged in US attacks during the war. Qeshm Air also remains a significant regional operator with international destinations that include Turkiye, Iraq, the UAE and Germany. Since the US and Israel began attacking Iran in late February, international carriers have mostly stayed away from Tehran with patchy flights in between.
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