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Iranian privately-owned airline Mahan Air has formally suspended its routes to Oman and Turkiye, after the US Department of the Treasury intensified its latest crackdown on Iran\u2019s civil aviation sector and its third-party service providers.<\/strong><\/p>\n The migration is disrupting critical transit links connecting Tehran with destinations including Istanbul, Ankara, and Muscat as airlines and aeronautics oversight authorities respond to revised US Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) regulations by distancing themselves from sanctions risks.<\/p>\n As per notices circulated by the airline to travel agents and civil aviation authorities, Mahan has grounded a range of international routes with some of them as follow:<\/p>\n Its flag routes of its Tehran-Muscat and Muscat-Tehran services from September 17, 2026 following the directives of Oman\u2019s Civil Aviation Authority.<\/p>\n Its connections between Tehran to Istanbul and Ankara are scheduled to be suspended from September 21, with its last Iranian-Antakya-London 101 service operational on September 20.<\/p>\n Its scheduled flight schedule to Georgia from September 21.<\/p>\n U.S. broadens aviation sanctions<\/strong><\/p>\n By expanding the scope of its sanctions beyond primary targets to include foreign third-party intermediaries such as ground-handlers, sales agents, cargo agents, and logistics providers based in countries including the UAE, Malaysia, Taiwan, and Kazakhstan, the US Treasury is progressively crippling Iran\u2019s passenger aircraft fleet.<\/p>\n Furthermore, US authorities have also canceled critical civil aircraft licenses such as General License J-1 that earlier enabled temporary re-exports of civil airliners and maintenance to aircraft with at least 10% US-origin components.<\/p>\n To avoid secondary sanctions and asset freezes in Iran, regional airports, ground-service operators, and civil aviation authorities have frozen support for ailing Iranian airliners.<\/p>\n The route suspensions underscore the turbulent troubles Iran\u2019s commercial airline industry is experiencing at a time of soaring demand for international travel, forcing foreign airlines to restrict their foreign transit routes across the Middle East and Caucasus regions.<\/p>\n Foreign operators into Iran now encounter much more rigorous licensing arrangements with the US required on a case-by-case basis for aircraft maintenance, overflight, and sourcing of spare parts related to Western-built aircraft.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n