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ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The United States on Tuesday imposed sweeping sanctions on “all remaining Iranian airlines,” targeting 36 entities - including 27 active carriers - as part of its ongoing Operation Economic Outcast against Iran, the US Treasury Department said in a statement, warning that any party doing business with the sanctioned entities risks being “cut off from the global financial system.”
The Treasury said its Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) "sanctioned 36 targets for supporting Iran's aviation sector, which the regime uses to move weapons, personnel, and illicit cargo," including 27 Iranian airlines “operating in the aviation sector of the Iranian economy," as well as "covert front companies, foreign intermediaries, and deceptive transshipment routes that Iran relies on to obtain U.S.-origin aircraft and sensitive technology."
The action aims to "sanction the remaining active Iranian airlines and intensify efforts to isolate Iran's terrorist regime from the global financial system," the Treasury added, noting it builds on previous OFAC sanctions "targeting persons servicing [Iran's] Mahan Air's domestic and international flights" - itself sanctioned in 2011 for "providing financial, material, and technological support to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force (IRGC-QF)."
OFAC is also targeting “third-country firms that facilitate the U.S.-sanctioned Mahan Air's proliferation activity, terrorist-linked flight operations, and illicit procurement of U.S.-origin aircraft," the statement added, noting it is also "suspending three Iran-related aviation authorizations to put additional pressure on the Iranian regime" - authorizations that allowed for overflights and for non-US airlines to fly US-origin or US-controlled commercial aircraft into Iran.
The statement noted that OFAC "will consider aviation safety-related requests on a case-by-case basis," warning that "any foreign firm or individual enabling sanctioned Iranian airlines" would "face serious consequences for supporting the world's leading state sponsor of terrorism."
Commenting on the sanctions, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a post on X, "Under Operation Economic Outcast, we promised severe consequences for those providing financial lifelines to the Iranian regime. Today, we followed through on that promise with sanctions on companies that continue to support Mahan Air.”
“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,” Bessent warned.
The US in late August enacted a sweeping sanctions package dubbed Operation Economic Outcast, designed to aggressively curtail Iran's military capabilities and primary revenue streams.
State Department Spokesperson Tommy Pigott then stated that the package specifically targets "Iranian military officials responsible for procuring weapons and directing attacks against US servicemembers and regional partners, Iran-based entities that gathered intelligence for targeting US forces and allies, and a procurement network supplying Iran's military and missile programs."
The measures also target what Washington describes as a "regime-directed cyber group" responsible for "extensive intrusions into U.S. critical infrastructure," as well as a network of "shippers and brokers moving Iranian petroleum and petrochemical products through the United Arab Emirates, China, Singapore, and Europe" to fund the IRGC's Quds Force and "other regime elements."
Operation Economic Outcast came after President Donald Trump vowed to launch "the most crushing economic operation ever taken against any country" against Iran, describing the move as "economic warfare and isolation on an unprecedented scale."
Importantly, the European Union on Friday joined the economic campaign against Iran, vowing to "maintain pressure" on Tehran to de-escalate regional tensions and normalize shipping via the Strait of Hormuz, while affirming support for continued diplomatic engagement to achieve that end.
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