US Treasury Sanctions 36 Entities Over Iran Aviation — SkimNews
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- Treasury Department sanctioned 36 entities on September 8 under "Operation Economic Outcast," targeting cargo providers and general sales agents in Turkiye, Kazakhstan, and Malaysia that support Iranian airlines.
- OFAC designated 27 Iranian commercial airlines "for operating in the aviation sector of the Iranian economy," part of a broader campaign to sever Iran's economic lifelines.
- Mahan Air and its support network took the heaviest hit — UAE-based companies were sanctioned for allegedly transferring three B-777 aircraft to the airline, first blacklisted in 2011 for IRGC-QF support.
- S Sistem Lojistik Hizmetler Anonim Sirketi and Mes Cargo Transportation (Turkiye), Icargo SDN BHD (Malaysia), and Tour Invest LLC (Kazakhstan) were designated as general sales agents and shipment coordinators for Mahan Air.
- Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent framed the late-August escalation as an "economic D-Day," vowing to "sever every economic lifeline" until "Tehran stands alone."
- Strait of Hormuz traffic sat at just six commodity vessels on September 8, far below the pre-strike 2025 average of more than 100 daily, despite U.S. claims of control over the waterway.
Why it matters: Treasury is turning a bilateral pressure campaign into a multilateral compliance test by sanctioning third-country intermediaries in Turkiye, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, and the UAE. With Mahan Air allegedly receiving three B-777 transfers despite 14 years of sanctions, going after the cargo and sales agents — rather than the planes — exposes the enforcement gaps Treasury is now trying to close, at the cost of US financial-system access for those foreign firms.
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