Iran warned Friday that it could disrupt regional air travel if its airlines are denied access to flights and airport services, suggesting other countries could face similar restrictions after several regional airports suspended Iranian flights in response to new US sanctions.
What happened: “If Iran cannot fly and receive airport services, no country in the region will have that possibility either,” Mohammad Mokhber, a senior adviser to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, wrote in an X post on Friday. He did not elaborate on how Iran would proceed.
همسویی با آمریکا در اجرای سیاستهای خصمانه در خاطر ملت ایران ماندگار خواهد بود، هر چند راهبرد ما در این مورد مشخص است: پرواز در منطقه یا برای همه آزاد است، یا برای هیچکس. اگر ایران امکان پرواز و دریافت خدمات فرودگاهی نداشته باشد، هیچ کشوری در منطقه هم این امکان را نخواهد داشت.
— محمد مخبر (@MokhberOfficial) September 25, 2026
Mokhber, who served as acting president in 2024 following the death of President Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash, said Iran would remember the countries that aligned with the United States in implementing what he described as “hostile policies.”
“Our strategy in this regard is clear: Flight in the region is either free for all or for no one,” he added.
Earlier on Wednesday, Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, issued a similar warning, saying, “If neighboring countries cooperate with the US and stop Iranian flights, we will ensure their airports cannot function.”
Why it matters: Several countries in the region have restricted Iranian airlines from landing at their airports this week, after the Trump administration announced it would place sanctions on any global companies doing business with Iranian carriers after Sept. 23.
On Sept. 8, the US Treasury Department imposed sanctions on 27 Iranian airlines, warning that global companies servicing these airlines could be barred from the global financial system.
“All the Iranian airlines will be shut down around the world,” US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told CNBC on Monday, saying, “If they land, you cannot provide them with fuel, you cannot provide them with landing services, you cannot sell them tickets, or you will be knocked out of the dollar system.”
US President Donald Trump has been placing tighter economic pressure on Iran as diplomacy stalls. Negotiations between Washington and Tehran have been deadlocked in disagreements over the management of the Strait of Hormuz, the critical waterway for global energy markets in the Gulf, where attacks on commercial vessels continue.
Despite a memorandum of understanding reached on June 18 to end the war on all fronts, tensions have remained high, with sporadic exchanges of fire between the two sides.
Know more: On Friday, Iraq’s Najaf, Erbil and Sulaimaniya airports joined other destinations restricting Iranian connections. Flights to Baghdad International Airport were canceled on Wednesday after the Iraqi government ordered the country’s Civil Aviation Authority to suspend Iranian flights, sources told Reuters.
On Thursday, the United Arab Emirates barred Iranian airlines from landing at its airports based on the US sanctions. “The General Civil Aviation Authority announced the suspension of all flights operated by Iranian airlines to and from the UAE,” read a statement carried by the official WAM news agency.
Iranian flights to Oman, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Qatar and Georgia were also halted.