Washington aims at Iran’s aviation network targeting third-country partners

As negotiations between Iran and the US appear to have stalled and the two sides have once again become engaged in active hostilities, Washington has dealt another blow to Tehran's economic position, with the country’s international business networks increasingly turning into a new front in the conflict.

The US Treasury announced a sweeping new package of sanctions targeting Iranian airlines this week, as well as foreign companies and service providers accused of helping them remain connected to the global economy. 

The measures form part of the Trump Administration’s “Operation Economic Outcast” launched in August, which the White House has described as “an unprecedented campaign to sever every remaining economic lifeline sustaining the Islamic Republic of Iran.”

The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned 27 Iranian airlines, accusing the carriers of having “long supported the Iranian regime’s destabilising activities.” 

A major focus of the measures was Mahan Air, which was first sanctioned by Washington in 2011 and is also subject to European Union sanctions. The airline has long been accused by the US of transporting personnel, equipment and financial resources on behalf of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC).

Washington also moved against companies outside Iran that it says have helped Mahan Air keep its operations running by supplying goods and services. According to the Treasury, the action is aimed at “covert front companies, foreign intermediaries, and deceptive transhipment routes that Iran relies on to obtain U.S.-origin aircraft and sensitive technology.”

The US authorities have repeatedly accused Tehran of relying on front companies and other pass-through entities in third countries to conceal its links to Iran and circumvent aviation-related restrictions. As part of the latest measures, sanctions were extended to nine entities operating internationally that Washington alleges have helped facilitate those activities.

The targets include two commercial entities and an individual based in the UAE, along with one firm based in Türkiye and another in the UK.

Four cargo companies and general sales agents were also sanctioned over allegations that they provided services to Mahan Air and helped coordinate shipments on the airline’s behalf. Two of those companies are based in Türkiye, while the others are located in Kazakhstan and Malaysia.

The US Treasury has also warned that international companies continuing to work with Mahan Air and other Iranian carriers could face further consequences as Washington seeks to make cooperation with Tehran increasingly costly.

“Let this be a warning to anyone doing business with Iran’s remaining airlines, all of which we sanctioned,” Bessent urged. “You are at risk of being cut off from the global financial system.”

The decision to target companies in third countries reflects a broader shift in Washington’s approach to its economic campaign against Iran, with US authorities increasingly seeking to pressure the international networks that Tehran relies on to maintain access to trade and financial services. The strategy has already extended beyond the aviation sector, with banks operating in other countries also facing sanctions over alleged assistance to Iran.

On August 28, the US moved to cut the UAE-based branches of Egypt's "Banque Misr" off from the dollar-based financial system. The state-owned bank said it was reviewing the Treasury’s notice and would communicate with the department “to obtain further information and maintain ongoing cooperation.”

Only days later, the US Treasury sanctioned Türkiye’s Golden Global investment bank and two of its subsidiaries, accusing them of facilitating the transfer of oil revenues from China to Iran. Golden Global rejected the allegations, describing them as “entirely unfounded and inconsistent.”

The latest measures were particularly significant because they represented the first case under the current economic campaign in which a bank based in a NATO member country was targeted over alleged assistance to Iran.

Restrictive measures against Turkish companies add to a long history of tensions between Washington and Ankara over the enforcement of US restrictions on Tehran. In 2019, Turkish state-run lender Halkbank was charged in a Manhattan federal court over allegations that it had participated in a “multibillion-dollar Iranian sanctions evasion scheme.” It evolved to become one of the worst sources of tension in the countries’ bilateral ties.

The case, which Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan described as “ugly,” continued for years before the dispute was finally brought to a settlement in March.

By Nazrin Sadigova