Treasury sanctions 27 Iranian airlines under Outcast

The US Treasury on 8 September 2026 said OFAC, under Operation Economic Outcast, sanctioned 36 targets tied to Iran's aviation sector. The designations sit in the press release (sb0623) and in OFAC's 8 September recent-actions notice.

This is a set of OFAC designations and a Treasury press release under E.O. 13902 and E.O. 13224, plus the suspension of certain Iran aviation general licenses. It is not a criminal indictment, and it is not an EU or Turkish order.

Twenty-seven Iranian airlines were designated pursuant to E.O. 13902 for operating in Iran's aviation sector. The full action is 36 targets, not the 27 airlines alone. Additional designations under E.O. 13224 cover Mahan Air facilitators, including ECT Aviation Support (UAE and UK), Sky Phoenix, Aerobravo, Ibrahim Ali Mohamed Mohamed Mahran, S Sistem, Mes Cargo, Icargo, and Tour Invest.

OFAC is also suspending three Iran-related aviation authorizations. Treasury says those include overflights and non-US airlines flying US-origin or US-controlled commercial aircraft into Iran. Aviation safety requests will be considered case by case.

In summer 2026, Treasury says Mahan Air received at least three B-777 aircraft diverted through the UAE and Oman. ECT Aviation Support UAE and Sky Phoenix are named as intermediaries. FinCEN issued a parallel alert. The action builds on the 24 August 2026 aviation-sector determination under E.O. 13902.

Treasury's headline says it "grounds" Iranian airlines. That is a framing of financial isolation, not a physical grounding order by Iranian regulators. These are US designations with secondary-sanctions exposure, not automatic EU or UK listings. The State Department repeated the 36-target count the same day.

The same Outcast campaign already hit Turkey's Golden Global Bank. Dollar and settlement rails that screening desks also watch this week include Visa's $20 billion stablecoin settlement run-rate and Citi and DBS weekend USD on Swift's tokenized ledger. Trade-flow context sits next to China's August export jump.

Compliance, aircraft lessors, and correspondent banks should add all 27 named Iranian airlines plus the Mahan facilitator entities to screening today, treat the three suspended aviation authorizations as live, and flag any UAE or Oman B-777 or parts corridor that touched ECT Aviation Support or Sky Phoenix.