Iran · updated 4h ago · 3 min read
Trump Administration Sanctions 27 Iranian Airlines, Nine Mahan Air Service Providers Under Operation Economic Outcast
US sanctions 27 Iranian airlines and nine service providers under 36 targets. Aimed to isolate Tehran's aviation sector, grounding Mahan Air and others.
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Aviation sanctions expand
The Trump administration imposed sweeping U.S. sanctions on Iran’s airline industry on Tuesday, targeting 27 Iranian airlines and nine service providers and sales agents accused of providing services to Mahan Air.
“The latest sanctions hit 27 Iranian airlines and nine service providers and sales agents”
The Treasury Department said the measures were part of “Operation Economic Outcast,” and a Treasury official said: “These jurisdictions have been on notice for some time, and now we’re moving quite directly to essentially cut off those operators from the Western financial system.”
CNN reported the latest sanctions hit 27 Iranian airlines and nine service providers and sales agents in Turkey, Malaysia, Kazakhstan and the United Arab Emirates, while CNBC said the action targeted all Iranian airlines that were not already facing sanctions.
CNBC also reported that Brent crude futures cresting above $99 per barrel and U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures rising nearly 2% at session highs followed attacks by the Iran-backed Houthis on energy facilities in southern Saudi Arabia.
The sanctions package also included the U.S. “effectively today terminating all licenses that related to aviation,” including “payments for overflights of Iranian airspace” and authorizations allowing non-U.S. airlines to fly U.S.-export-controlled airplanes into Iran, according to CNN.
Officials warn of cutoff
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent warned that the new designations were meant to isolate Iran’s economy and told companies: “Let this be a warning to anyone doing business with Iran's remaining airlines, all of which we sanctioned today: You are at risk of being cut off from the global financial system.”
CNBC said the plan to sever Iran’s economic lifelines followed on-again, off-again hostilities between the U.S. and Iran around the Hormuz Strait, a choke point for the world’s oil trade during the war.
Al-Monitor reported that the Treasury Department designated 27 Iranian airlines not yet subject to U.S. sanctions and tightened pressure on previously sanctioned Mahan Air, which the Treasury said the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps used to transport weapons and military personnel.
Al-Monitor also quoted a Treasury official saying: “Essentially, we're taking the entire aviation sector of the Iranian economy out of the market,” as the U.S. suspended three general licenses authorizing payments for overflights of Iranian airspace and non-American airlines to fly U.S.-origin aircraft into Iran.
CNN reported that Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi scoffed at the sanctions, writing on X: “After 47 years of sanctions, the US went to war with Iran on behalf of Israel.”
Procurement networks targeted
Beyond airlines, the U.S. targeted intermediaries and foreign entities accused of helping Mahan Air obtain U.S.-origin aircraft and sensitive technology, including companies in Turkey, Malaysia, Kazakhstan and the United Arab Emirates, according to Al-Monitor.
“Today, we followed through on that promise with sanctions on companies that continue to support Mahan Air”
Al-Monitor said the Iranian carrier received at least three Boeing 777 aircraft this summer as part of a scheme that diverted the planes through the UAE and Oman, and it added that the Treasury official described the effort as cutting off operators from the Western financial system.
Fox Business reported that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the administration followed through on its promise with sanctions on companies that continue to support Mahan Air, and it quoted Bessent: “Today, we followed through on that promise with sanctions on companies that continue to support Mahan Air.”
Fox Business also said the Treasury Department targeted covert front companies, foreign intermediaries, and deceptive transshipment routes that Iran relies on to obtain U.S.-origin aircraft and sensitive technology, while naming ECT Aviation Support LLC in the United Arab Emirates and Sky Phoenix Hava Yollari Tasimaciligi Ticaret Limited Sirketi in Turkey as intermediaries.
CNN reported that Richard Nephew, a former U.S. deputy special envoy for Iran, said the airline sanctions “could be meaningful but mostly as a way of making it hard to engage in clandestine procurement and similar given the blockade,” linking the measures to the Strait of Hormuz blockade and the war’s broader pressure campaign.