New Delhi: The United States has warned that Iranian airlines could lose access to international airports from September 23 as it presses foreign businesses to stop servicing their aircraft. The threat marks a new stage in Washington’s effort to isolate Iran’s aviation sector, although the extent of any shutdown will depend on how governments and service providers respond.
The US treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, said on Monday that Iranian carriers would be unable to obtain fuel, landing services or ticketing support abroad without exposing the companies involved to American sanctions. He predicted that all Iranian airlines would be shut down around the world on Wednesday, but did not announce that the US could itself close foreign airports or airspace to them.
The distinction matters because an international flight depends on a chain of businesses beyond the airline: an airport must accept the aircraft, a supplier must refuel it and agents must sell its seats. Bessent’s warning is aimed at those businesses and their access to the dollar-based financial system, giving them a strong incentive to withdraw services even where local authorities have issued no formal flight ban.
The deadline follows sanctions imposed on September 8, when the US treasury department designated 27 Iranian airlines and other companies linked to the country’s aviation industry. Washington said the measures targeted networks that helped Iranian carriers obtain aircraft and technology or maintain overseas operations, including intermediaries and service providers outside Iran.
American officials have long accused Mahan Air, already under US sanctions, of supporting Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Tehran has faced aviation restrictions for years, but the latest measures extend Washington’s pressure across the country’s remaining airlines and the foreign firms on which their international flights rely.
There were signs of disruption before Bessent set out his Wednesday deadline. Mahan Air suspended services to Istanbul, Ankara and Muscat last week after decisions by aviation authorities in Turkey and Oman, according to notices to travel agents reported by the Financial Times.
Those routes matter to Iranians seeking access to regional business hubs and onward connections, particularly as the war has already reduced travel options. Further cancellations would affect ordinary passengers as well as the commercial activity Washington says it wants to constrain, while the practical scale of the impact will become clearer only after the deadline passes.
Bessent said the question of Chinese cooperation had been raised in discussions with Beijing but offered no public commitment from China to restrict Iranian flights. His remarks came after talks with Chinese officials ahead of a planned meeting between the US president, Donald Trump, and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping.
The aviation campaign forms part of Washington’s wider economic pressure on Tehran during the conflict that began with US and Israeli strikes in late February. For now, Bessent’s statement is a forecast backed by a sanctions threat; whether it becomes a worldwide halt to Iranian flights rests on decisions made at airports, banks and aviation companies beyond US territory.