Trump administration sanctions all Iranian airlines in aviation crackdown

Trump administration sanctions all Iranian airlines in aviation crackdown Submitted by MEE staff on Tue, 09/08/2026 - 20:59 The Treasury suspended the ability of non-US airlines to operate any route to Iran that originates in the US Passengers disembark from a privately owned Mahan Air flight at the airport in Kabul, Afghanistan on 15 September 2021 (Karim Sahib/AFP) Off The Trump administration on Tuesday announced it is sanctioning 27 Iranian air carriers in a bid to deny the government in Tehran from moving "weapons, personnel, and illicit cargo", the Treasury said in a statement. The move is part of the Operation Economic Outcast, the expanded sanctions project that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said is meant to choke off Iran from access to the global economy. The US first sanctioned an Iranian commercial airline, Mahan Air, in 2011.