US increases pressure on Iran with sanctions targeting aviation sector — SkimNews
Get the Geopolitics newsletter
Daily geopolitics — wars, elections, sanctions, the diplomatic moves that move markets. Free.
- US Treasury Department announced 36 Iran-related sanctions on commercial and private airlines Tuesday as part of the program dubbed 'Operation Economic Outcast'
- Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent warned that companies doing business with Iranian airlines 'are at risk of being cut off from the global financial system', calling it a warning to anyone still engaged with Tehran's carriers
- Mahan Air, privately owned and under US sanctions since 2011 for allegedly supporting the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), faces expanded restrictions alongside other Iran-based aviation companies
- Foreign firms in Turkiye, the United Arab Emirates, Kazakhstan, and Malaysia were sanctioned for providing parts and logistics services to Iranian airlines
- Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi dismissed the measures on social media: 'After failing to achieve its aims through sanctions or war, Washington's novel solution is… more sanctions. Seriously?'
- Secondary sanctions freeze any assets the targeted entities hold under US jurisdiction and extend to countries and companies that do business with the restricted firms
Why it matters: The penalties extend well beyond Iranian carriers to third-country firms in Turkiye, the UAE, Kazakhstan, and Malaysia, and carry secondary sanctions that freeze US-jurisdiction assets. Bessent's framing as a warning to the global aviation-services market means any company still touching Iran's airline supply chain now risks losing access to dollar-clearing.
Ask SkimNews
