Iran's civil aviation chief Abouzar Shiroudi said on September 28, 2026, that Tehran had submitted a formal protest to the International Civil Aviation Organization over restrictions on Iranian airlines. IranWire, reporting his remarks to state agency IRNA, said the submission included documentation of disrupted flight operations. The move followed cancellations and restrictions affecting services between Iran and other countries in the region.
The US Treasury's September 8 action designated 36 targets, including 27 Iranian airlines, under its Operation Economic Outcast campaign. The list included Iran Aseman Airlines, Qeshm Air, Kish Airlines and Zagros Airlines. Treasury alleged that Iran used aviation networks to move weapons and personnel and obtain aircraft and technology. The designations also covered foreign intermediaries and companies providing cargo or sales services for Mahan Air.
Treasury described a specific procurement allegation involving at least three Boeing 777 aircraft received by Mahan Air in summer 2026 after diversion through the UAE and Oman. It identified ECT Aviation Support in the UAE and Sky Phoenix in Turkiye as intermediaries. Alongside the designations, OFAC suspended three Iran-related aviation authorisations previously in force, including permissions involving overflights and certain foreign-operated aircraft entering Iran, while retaining case-by-case consideration of aviation-safety requests.
The passenger disruption was described in a separate September 26 interview with Kurdistan 24. Sarsang Mahmoud, Mahan Air's director for Iraq and the Kurdistan Region, told the broadcaster that contacts to the airline indicated more than 1,000 Iraqi citizens were stranded in Tehran. More than 300 were from the Kurdistan Region, he said. Many were ill or recovering from surgery and unable to make the journey by car or bus, according to his account.
