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Mahan Air, Iran's largest privately held airline, has had its flights to Türkiye banned following a sweeping new round of US sanctions targeting Iran's aviation sector, Turkish news outlets AirportHaber and Ekonomim reported Wednesday. The suspension notice has been formally communicated to all relevant companies, according to the reports.
The halt follows an embargo decision tied to sanctions imposed by the United States, which has effectively cut off the carrier's route between Iran and Türkiye, one of the airline's international destinations.
The action traces back to September 8, 2026, when the US Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control, known as OFAC, announced a broad new sanctions package aimed at Iran's civil aviation industry.
The initiative, named "Operation Economic Outcast," added 36 targets to the sanctions list and imposed new restrictions on effectively all of Iran's active airlines, according to AirportHaber and Ekonomim.
According to OFAC's own published notice, the agency simultaneously issued Counter Terrorism General License 37, authorizing the wind-down of transactions involving persons blocked on September 8, and published a notice suspending certain general licenses under Iran's sanctions regulations.
Among the licenses suspended was General License J-1, which had authorized the temporary reexport of certain civil aircraft to Iran.
In its place, OFAC issued General License DD, authorizing the wind-down of civil aviation-related transactions previously permitted under the earlier rules.
Washington also singled out third-country companies that support Mahan Air's operations, according to the Turkish reports.
OFAC's updated Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List bears this out: among dozens of Iranian airlines added to the list, three Türkiye-registered companies were designated specifically for their links to Mahan Air.
Istanbul-based MES Cargo Transportation Tourism and Foreign Trade Limited Company and S Sistem Logistics Services Joint Stock Company, along with Izmir-based Sky Phoenix Airways Transportation Trading Company Limited, were all listed as tied to the airline.
Other newly designated entities linked to Mahan Air span the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, Malaysia and Kazakhstan.
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In the wake of the sanctions announcement, Mahan Air's flights to Türkiye were stopped, Turkish media reported. The Turkish outlets did not specify an exact date on which flights ceased or detail the scope of Mahan Air's prior route network to Türkiye, saying only that the ban had been officially communicated to the companies involved.
Mahan Air has been under US sanctions since 2011, when the Treasury Department designated it for allegedly providing financial, material and technological support to Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force.
The carrier has continued operating international routes in the years since, including service to destinations in Asia, Europe and the Middle East, despite the earlier restrictions.
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