Iran airlines cancel flights as US sanctions take effect — SkimNews
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- Iranian airlines cancelled international flights on Wednesday (Sep 23) after the US tightened sanctions on Iran's aviation sector, suspending routes to Baghdad, Muscat, Qatar, Georgia, and Azerbaijan.
- US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced the new measures on Monday, vowing to "shut down" Iranian carriers and warning other countries they cannot provide fuel, landing services, or tickets without risking being "knocked out of the dollar system."
- China publicly opposed the sanctions as illegal, and a Mahan Air flight from Tehran landed in Guangzhou on Wednesday according to FlightRadar24, with a Shanghai departure also scheduled.
- Iraq is expected to comply with the US measures, with Baghdad set to halt Iranian flights, prompting concern from Iraqi travel agents in Najaf whose businesses depend on Iranian pilgrims traveling to the Shia shrine city.
- Iranian civil aviation authorities were in talks to reroute Baghdad-bound flights to Najaf, where a source at the airport told Tasnim that flights were running normally and no Iraqi halt order had been received.
Why it matters: The sanctions leave Iranians with fewer overland-free options for international travel and threaten a key economic channel — religious pilgrimage traffic — that Najaf's travel agents say their businesses depend on. China's refusal to enforce the ban gives Tehran a diplomatic counterweight and a functioning air corridor to Asia, exposing the limits of unilateral US enforcement when major economies opt out.
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