Iran flights to Baghdad, Muscat cancelled ahead of US aviation sanctions

Flights from Iran to Baghdad and Muscat will be cancelled starting at midnight ahead of new United States sanctions taking effect Wednesday, Tasnim News Agency documented.

Key points

• Earlier this month, the US issued stricter measures administered by the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), placing restrictions on trade, energy and financial institutions.
• "It is in Washington's interest to accept these conditions, " Mohsen Rezaei, Iran's security chief, informed Al Jazeera in an interview last week.
• While maintaining a combative stance towards Washington, tehran, nevertheless, signalled on Saturday that it remains open to negotiations mediated by Qatar to reach a long-term resolution.
• Iran's ISNA news agency documented that negotiations with Oman were likewise ongoing, adding that all remaining international flights, including those to Istanbul, will operate as scheduled.
• The move marks the latest step in Washington's expanding sanctions campaign against Tehran.

In practice, a spokesman for Iran's Civil Aviation Organization informed the news agency on Tuesday that the agency is "negotiating so that flights whose destination is Baghdad can be redirected to Najaf Airport".

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent remarked on Monday that all Iranian airlines would be shut down on September 23 through the threat of secondary sanctions on aviation service providers, seven months into the war between the US and Iran.

Bessent informed CNBC that when Iranian carriers land at an airport, "you cannot provide them with fuel, you cannot provide them with landing services, you cannot sell them tickets, or you will be knocked out of the dollar system".

Meanwhile, the move marks the latest step in Washington's expanding sanctions campaign against Tehran. Aviation analysts informed Al Jazeera that although the US lacks authority to close foreign airspace, targeting local refuelling and ground-handling providers achieves a similar outcome by cutting off essential operational backing.

Notably, the administration of President Donald Trump additionally expanded secondary sanctions in late August, warning that foreign firms doing business with Iran throughout shipping, technology, gold and digital assets face penalties of their own.

"It is in Washington's interest to accept these conditions, " Mohsen Rezaei, Iran's security chief, informed Al Jazeera in an interview last week. "Trump's threats will not achieve any results. We are prepared for a decisive war."

For now, iran flights to Baghdad, Muscat cancelled ahead of US aviation sanctions remains the part of the story worth watching, and further updates are likely as more details are confirmed.