US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has said that he isn’t sure how the Iranian delegation attending the UN General Assembly in New York City will get home due to US sanctions targeting Iran’s airlines and threats to sanction countries conducting flights to and from Iran.
In an interview with Fox News on Wednesday, Bessent claimed that due to the US economic campaign against Iran, which he dubbed “Operation Economic Outcast,” 80% to 90% of Iran’s “external flights” have been shut down.
“I’m not sure how the Iranian representatives at the UN are gonna get home. We have made it very clear around the world, whether it’s the financiers, the people who are doing business, the people who are supplying the Iranians … we are going to prosecute and execute your companies and your bank accounts every day and every week,” Bessent said.
The UAE’s aviation authority has announced that it is suspending all flights by Iranian airlines to comply with the US sanctions, and Iranian media has reported that flights have also been shut down to Oman, Georgia, and Azerbaijan. Flights to Baghdad have also been shut down, though Iran’s Tasnim news agency reported that, as of Thursday, flights to and from Najaf, Iraq, a holy city for Shia Muslims, have continued.
Reuters reported on Thursday that “Tehran’s Imam Khomeini Airport listed scheduled arrivals and departures on Thursday to and from countries including Afghanistan, Armenia, China, Iraq, Pakistan, Tajikistan, and Turkey,” but none were listed for nearby Gulf Arab states.
Iran has suggested that it could retaliate against countries that follow the US sanctions, which are aimed at crushing Iran’s economy, a strategy of collective punishment that will harm ordinary Iranian civilians.
“We ask all the countries of the region not to join America’s adventure. If they do not allow Iranian aircraft to travel, their own airports will not be able to have flights either,” said Mohsen Rezaei, the head of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council. “You are our friends, but you should not join America’s ranks. You should prevent the war from spreading.”
