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The Treasury Department sanctioned 27 Iranian airlines and nine foreign service providers Tuesday, extending US sanctions to every commercial carrier in Iran that was not already blacklisted.
Getting into it: The 36 designations came under Operation Economic Outcast, the pressure campaign Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent launched Aug. 24 and billed as an economic D-Day. Alongside the airlines, Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) suspended three Iran-related aviation authorizations, killing permissions for overflights of Iranian airspace and for non-US carriers to fly American-origin aircraft into Iran. Safety-related requests will be considered case by case.
“Essentially, we’re taking the entire aviation sector of the Iranian economy out of the market,” a Treasury official said.
The foreign targets center on Mahan Air, the private Iranian carrier under sanctions since 2011 for supporting the IRGC’s Quds Force. Treasury says Mahan obtained at least three retired Boeing 777s this summer, routed through the UAE and Oman, with UAE-based ECT Aviation Support and Turkey-based Sky Phoenix serving as intermediaries. The aircraft picked up temporary registrations along the way. OFAC designated ECT’s Egyptian chief executive Ibrahim Ali Mohamed Mohamed Mahran, the company’s British subsidiary, and a UAE operator that flew its planes. It also hit cargo handlers and general sales agents in Turkey, Malaysia and Kazakhstan, including one Turkish firm. Treasury says it coordinated shipments of drone components and industrial equipment bound for Iran.
In a statement, Bessent said, “Under Operation Economic Outcast, we promised severe consequences for those providing financial lifelines to the Iranian regime. 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.”
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi dismissed the campaign outright. “After 47 years of sanctions, the US went to war with Iran on behalf of Israel. The fallout has been disastrous for America, including its standing worldwide,” he wrote on X. “After failing to achieve its aims through sanctions or war, Washington’s ‘novel’ solution is more sanctions. Seriously?”
The 27 Iranian airlines designated under E.O. 13902 are Air Shiraz, Asa Jet Airline, Ata Airlines Company, Atlas Aviation Group, Ava Airlines, Chabahar Airlines Company, Erwan Airline Company, Fly Kish Airlines, Fly Persia Airlines, Iran Air Tour, Iran Aseman Airlines, Jsky Airlines, Kish Airlines, Karun Airlines Company, Lad Airways, Mehr Airways, Nasim Air, Pars Oghyanous Kish Company, Qeshm Air, Raimon Airways, Saha Airlines, Sepehran Airlines, Soroush Air, Taban Airlines, Toos Airlines, Varesh Airlines and Zagros Airlines. The nine remaining targets, designated under E.O. 13224, are UAE-based ECT Aviation Support LLC, its British subsidiary ECT Aviation Support LTD, UAE-based Aerobravo Airplane Management and Operation LLC, Turkey-based Sky Phoenix Hava Yollari Tasimaciligi Ticaret Limited Sirketi, Turkey-based S Sistem Lojistik Hizmetler Anonim Sirketi, Turkey-based Mes Cargo Transportation Tourism and Foreign Trade Limited Company, Malaysia-based Icargo SDN BHD, Kazakhstan-based Tour Invest LLC, and Egyptian national Ibrahim Ali Mohamed Mohamed Mahran, the UAE-based chief executive of ECT Aviation Support.
