US treasury chief says businesses working with Iranian airlines risk sanctions

Businesses working with Iranian airlines risk US sanctions, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says, calling the warning a part of a campaign to put economic pressure on Tehran amid the US-Israeli war on Iran.

Iranian state media reported over the weekend that Iran has resumed commercial flights from Tehran’s international airport for the first time since the start of the war.

Iran’s state media reported that flights were scheduled to depart for Istanbul, Oman’s capital of Muscat, the Saudi city of Medina and for Iraq and Qatar.

The US Treasury Department has said Washington is imposing a “financial stranglehold” on the ​Iranian government.

“Doing business with sanctioned Iranian airlines risks exposure to US sanctions,” Bessent says in a post on X.

“Foreign governments should take all actions necessary to ensure that companies in their jurisdictions do not provide services to those aircraft, including the provision of jet fuel, catering, landing fees or maintenance,” he says.

Bessent says the Treasury Department “will not hesitate to act against any third parties that facilitate or conduct business with Iranian entities.”

A Trump administration official says the Treasury Department will impose secondary sanctions on foreign financial institutions “that continue to facilitate Iran’s activities.”