Mahan Air suspends flights to Turkey as new U.S. sanctions on Iranian aviation take effect

Iranian airline Mahan Air has suspended its flights to Turkey, scheduled for Monday, Sept. 21, after the latest U.S. sanctions on Iran’s aviation industry took effect, Al Jazeera reports.

Turkey’s Civil Aviation Authority (SHGM) has not yet published any details on the matter, nor whether passengers will be affected by the flight suspension.

The development comes after the latest round of U.S. sanctions against Iran’s aviation sector, announced last week as part of Washington’s continued pressure on Tehran during the war.

Mahan Air has been in the crosshairs of U.S. sanctions for years: in 2011, the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designated the company under Executive Order 13382, accusing it of providing financial, material and technological support to the Quds Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC-QF).

The suspension of routes to Turkey — one of the few international destinations still open to Iranian aviation — shows the new sanctions are further narrowing Iran’s airspace.

Source: Al Jazeera