# US Secondary Sanctions on Iranian Airlines Take Effect, With Dollar Access as the Enforcement Tool

Turkey, Iraq, Oman and Azerbaijan have suspended flights to and from Iran, while Russia and China say their aviation links with Tehran remain lawful and will continue.

- Published: 2026-09-23T10:54:04.121Z
- Canonical: https://polylog.news/2026-09-23/us-secondary-sanctions-on-iranian-airlines-take-effect-with
- Publisher: Polylog (Global desk)
- Section: macro
- Sources: [Ynet](https://www.ynet.co.il/news/article/hjhh8gbqmg), [Globes](https://www.globes.co.il/news/article.aspx?did=1001557091)

Washington's measures against Iranian civil aviation took effect on Wednesday. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent had said this week that every Iranian airline would be shut down by the threat of secondary sanctions on the foreign companies that service them. The Israeli outlet Ynet reported that the State Department warned that any party supplying Iranian carriers with fuel or landing services [would be removed from the dollar system](https://www.ynet.co.il/news/article/hjhh8gbqmg), and that Russia and China had declined to comply, describing their ties with Tehran as legitimate and lawful.

The instrument is not a ban on Iranian airlines. It is a threat directed at airport operators, fuel suppliers, ground handlers and ticketing companies, each of which risks losing access to United States dollar transactions if it serves Iran Air, Mahan Air or Qeshm Air. Al Jazeera set out the same mechanism in its [explainer on whether Washington can ground Iranian carriers worldwide](https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2026/9/22/can-the-us-ban-iranian-airlines-worldwide-and-what-would-it-mean), noting that the practical reach depends entirely on third-country service providers, not on Iranian aircraft.

Compliance so far has come from states Iran counts as partners. The Israeli business daily Globes reported that [Turkey, Iraq, Oman and Azerbaijan have all halted flights to and from Iran](https://www.globes.co.il/news/article.aspx?did=1001557091), a step it described as a severe blow to the country and its citizens. The National reported that the measures, if enforced broadly, would leave Iran dependent on foreign carriers for international air links.

The episode shows how the dollar functions as infrastructure rather than simply as money. Access to dollar clearing is the pressure point, and the same leverage that makes the sanctions effective gives every state watching a reason to build settlement channels that do not route through New York.

## What this means

Washington is converting control of dollar clearing into direct operational power over a third country's aviation sector, and the companies exposed are fuel suppliers, ground handlers and airport operators in Turkey, Iraq, Oman and Azerbaijan that must choose between Iranian revenue and access to the American financial system. Nearly all of them have chosen the dollar, which demonstrates that the tool works. The second-order effect works in the opposite direction: each demonstration raises the incentive, for Moscow, Beijing and Gulf states alike, to build payment and service arrangements outside dollar reach. Iranian air links contract now, and the incentive to build parallel payment systems outside dollar clearing grows over years.

## What to watch

- Whether Russian and Chinese carriers keep operating Iranian routes after the deadline, because that would establish the practical limit of secondary sanctions among states willing to absorb the cost.
- Any move by Gulf or Asian states to settle aviation fuel and handling services in non-dollar currencies, which would be the concrete beginning of the workaround rather than the rhetoric of one.
- Whether the same secondary-sanctions design is extended from aviation to shipping or insurance, which would widen the number of third-country firms forced to choose.