The United States has recently imposed several restrictions on Iran’s aviation as part of its economic pressure on the country. But although US sanctions on Iran’s entire aviation sector have already taken effect, Iran’s air links have not shut down completely, Arab News reports.
Despite the sanctions, flights still operate from Tehran’s airport to more than 30 international destinations. Although the number of flights has fallen, Iran’s air links with China, Russia, Pakistan and some other countries continue.
The report says the United States imposed sanctions on Iran’s entire aviation sector this September. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the move would leave Iran effectively “economically suffocated”. Washington gave foreign companies until September 23 to comply.
Bessent then warned that all Iranian airlines’ operations anywhere in the world would be “shut down”. “If an Iranian aircraft lands, it cannot be given fuel, it cannot be given landing services, and tickets cannot be sold for it. Otherwise you will be cut off from the dollar-based financial system,” he said.
Calling the US move illegal, Tehran said on Monday (September 28) that it would complain to the United Nations and the International Court of Justice. It also said flights to about 30 international destinations from Tehran alone were continuing despite the sanctions.
According to flight-tracking website Flightradar24, a total of 41 flights took off from or landed at Tehran’s international airport on Sunday, compared with an average of 80 to 90 a day in the two days before the sanctions took effect. In other words, Tehran’s flights have roughly halved since the sanctions.
Iran’s two main airlines, state-owned Iran Air and private carrier Mahan Air, have been hit hardest. Of 24 flights that left Tehran on Sunday, only five were operated by Mahan Air and two by Iran Air. Before the sanctions, each airline operated about 10 flights a day.
Those numbers are still higher than Bessent’s estimate that the sanctions had stopped 80 to 90 percent of Iran’s flights. The director of Tehran airport told state television that “flights are still operating to more than 30 international destinations”.
China has rejected the US sanctions on Tehran outright as “illegal and unilateral”, and Mahan Air flights continue to Chinese airports.
Flights also continue to Russia and Pakistan, though neither country has commented on the sanctions. Mahan Air has stopped flights to Turkey at the request of the Turkish authorities, the airline said, although Iran Air still flies daily to Istanbul and several smaller Iranian airlines fly to other Turkish cities. The sanctions have not yet been enforced in Armenia, Afghanistan, Belarus or Malaysia, which are served mainly by smaller Iranian airlines.
Washington has not said whether it will take action against countries that do not comply. But the United Arab Emirates, an important transit hub for Iranian passengers, has suspended all Iranian flights from its territory “until further notice”.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report