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US Sanctions Ground Iran Flights, Force Travellers Overland

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New US sanctions have shut Iranian airlines out of much of the world's airspace, cancelling most flights and forcing civilians onto costly land routes.

Air travel has become sharply harder for Iranian civilians after United States sanctions locked domestic airlines out of much of the world's airspace, forcing many people onto slower and more expensive overland routes. Wednesday, September 23, 2026, marked the end of a short wind-down period that had allowed neighbouring countries to keep servicing Iranian carriers, and its expiry triggered the cancellation of all but a handful of Iranian flights to Turkiye, the United Arab Emirates and China.

The latest squeeze traces to September 8, when the US Department of the Treasury designated 27 airlines, covering the remaining Iranian carriers that Washington had not already sanctioned. Larger names such as Iran Air and Mahan Air were already under heavy sanctions but had kept limited operations running. The newer round widened the net beyond aircraft operators, targeting individuals and entities tied to aviation support and procurement in the UAE, Turkiye, China, India, the United Kingdom, Malaysia and other countries.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Monday that airports and companies supplying Iranian-operated planes with fuel, landing services or ticket sales now risk secondary US sanctions that could sever them from the American financial system. The measures are part of a broader effort to pressure Tehran into concessions during the US-Israel war on Iran.

Neighbouring airspace closes

The most immediate effect came from neighbouring aviation authorities that had continued to open their airspace and airport services to Iranian airlines and have now stopped. Oman, Azerbaijan and Georgia are among those that said they would no longer provide such services. In Iraq, Baghdad Airport was declared off-limits to Iranian carriers, though flights to Najaf Airport were still running on Wednesday.

Many connections between Iran and the major transit hubs of Turkiye and the UAE had already been halted because of the war and earlier sanctions. International carriers have also pulled back almost entirely. Turkish Airlines has suspended its flights until at least March 2027, while Qatar Airways, Emirates and Lufthansa have all suspended operations to the country.

That combination leaves Iranian travellers with few remaining air links and pushes many towards land crossings, which are cheaper to reach but longer and costlier overall for those who once relied on direct flights.

A 'new level of sanctions'

Mohammadreza Ebrahimpour, an Iran-based aviation and transit expert, said years of US sanctions had already pushed Iranian airlines to lean on third countries and smaller firms to secure fuel and services. Sourcing spare parts to keep the country's ageing fleet in the air has grown steadily harder over the same period.

But the formal refusal of services by aviation authorities in neighbouring states, he said, amounted to "a new level of sanctions in action" that could carry longer-lasting consequences than the earlier restrictions. Unlike informal workarounds, official closures are harder to route around.

Ebrahimpour added that the US had effectively barred international airlines from crossing Iranian airspace as well. Washington did so by suspending authorisations for some US-origin aircraft to fly to Iran and by limiting US-linked payments for overflights. He described the loss of overflight revenue as "a big blow," noting that such payments had been one of the most lucrative parts of Iran's aviation sector.

The overflight restrictions matter beyond passenger convenience. Fees paid by foreign carriers to cross a country's airspace are a steady source of hard currency, and cutting that stream removes income that Iran had continued to earn even as its own airlines struggled.

For now, the practical picture on the ground is stark: most scheduled international service into and out of Iran has stopped, the handful of surviving Iranian flights operate under tight limits, and travellers face the choice of long overland journeys or waiting for routes that may not return soon.

Iran aviation sanctions, US Treasury Iran airlines, Iran Air Mahan sanctions, Scott Bessent, Iran flight cancellations, US-Israel war on Iran, Iranian airspace overflight, Imam Khomeini airport

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