A sweeping package of US aviation sanctions has brought Iran's international air connections to near collapse, pushing thousands of travellers onto congested overland routes while raising fears of longer-term isolation for the country's roughly 90 million people. On 8 September, the US Treasury Department designated 27 Iranian airlines under what it called "Operation Economic Outcast", targeting all remaining Iranian carriers not previously sanctioned, including well-known names such as Iran Air, Mahan, Aseman, Zagros, and Kish Air. A short wind-down period expired on 23 September, after which airports and companies that continue fuelling, servicing, or selling tickets for Iranian-operated aircraft risk being cut off from the US financial system through secondary sanctions.

The practical effect has varied by country but the cumulative impact is severe. Azerbaijan's civil aviation authority formally suspended all Iranian carrier flights from 22 September, explicitly citing the US measures. Baghdad Airport has stopped servicing Iranian airlines, though flights to Najaf — a pilgrimage city in southern Iraq — continue to operate. Georgia's aviation authority announced it would comply with the sanctions framework but had not yet set a firm enforcement date. Flights to China and some Turkish cities continue, though Mahan Air — sanctioned by the US since 2011 over alleged support for Iran's Revolutionary Guard — faces specific restrictions on routes to Istanbul and Ankara. Iranian civil aviation officials say they are in ongoing talks with counterparts in other countries to limit further disruptions.

The sanctions have compounded disruptions already caused by the broader US-Israel conflict with Iran, which had led Turkish Airlines, Emirates, Qatar Airways, and Lufthansa to suspend operations to Iran well before September. Turkish Airlines told BBC Persian that its suspension will remain in place until at least 1 March 2027. Crucially, aviation analysts note that even if security conditions improve, foreign carriers wishing to return will face a new layer of compliance hurdles: US export-control rules apply to any aircraft in which US-origin components represent ten percent or more of the aircraft's value — a threshold that can apply to European-built Airbus jets — meaning airlines must scrutinise their fleets, insurance arrangements, payment channels, and ground-handling contracts before resuming flights, regardless of the security situation.

For ordinary Iranians, the consequences are immediate and tangible. Bus tickets from Iran to Turkey have reportedly sold for four times their normal price on the black market as demand surges. Heavy congestion has been reported at the Bazargan and Razi border crossings into Turkey, and on land routes toward Yerevan, the Armenian capital, from which onward international connections are still available. Some travellers making these journeys are young Iranians seeking to sit international language examinations — a prerequisite for studying or working abroad — that cannot be administered inside Iran due to sanctions. Iranian academics have separately reported a wave of rejected postgraduate applications from universities in Norway, Australia, Singapore, Estonia, and elsewhere following the imposition of US education sanctions.

Beyond the human cost to travellers, Iran-based aviation expert Mohammadreza Ebrahimpour warns that the sanctions strike at a strategically important revenue stream: Iran earned more than $300 million a year from overflight fees paid by international airlines transiting its airspace, and the US has now effectively prohibited US-linked aircraft from using that corridor. The measures also threaten tens of thousands of jobs across aviation, tourism, and hospitality, and risk disrupting air freight of medical supplies at a time when a US naval blockade in the Strait of Hormuz is already constraining maritime trade. Iran has already seen international air capacity fall 49 percent year-on-year as of August 2026. Speaking at the UN General Assembly in New York, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian accused the Trump administration of "bullying" and insisted that Iran could not be forced into surrender. The US Treasury maintains that the restrictions are designed to disrupt weapons procurement by Iranian airlines and curb activities linked to the Revolutionary Guard.