Flight suspensions, banking interventions and pressure on energy trade show how US sanctions are narrowing the space between Ankara and Tehran.
The disappearance of Iran from the booking systems of Turkey’s three largest carriers is the most visible sign of a much wider shift. Turkish Airlines, AJet and Pegasus have no bookable services to Iran from 21 September. Turkish Airlines and AJet show no flights before March 2027, while Pegasus appears to have removed Iran from its booking system indefinitely, according to a review by Middle East Eye.
One qualification is essential, however. The Turkish carriers had already suspended their Iranian services in late February, when US and Israeli strikes disrupted regional airspace. None has publicly attributed the latest scheduling decisions directly to Washington. This is therefore better understood not as a new cancellation, but as a decision not to resume operations as American sanctions make any return commercially and legally hazardous.
Aviation Pressure Reaches Beyond Iranian Aircraft
On 8 September, the US Treasury imposed sanctions on 27 Iranian airlines and several foreign companies supporting them. The Office of Foreign Assets Control also suspended authorisations that had allowed non-US airlines to operate US-origin or US-controlled aircraft into Iran. The measures reached far beyond American-built fleets: aircraft assembled elsewhere may contain enough US technology or components to fall within American export controls.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent made the enforcement threat explicit, warning that anyone continuing to do business with Iran’s sanctioned airlines risked being cut off from the global financial system. The Reuters writes that practical targets include companies selling tickets, supplying fuel, providing ground services, repairing aircraft or handling cargo.
The objective is not simply to ground Iranian aircraft. It is to make servicing Iranian aviation too risky for airports, banks, insurers, travel agencies and maintenance providers outside Iran.
Turkish Companies Enter Washington’s Crosshairs
Turkey is not merely experiencing the indirect consequences of the campaign. OFAC designated three Turkey-based companies over their alleged support for Mahan Air.
According to the US allegations, İzmir-based Sky Phoenix helped broker the transfer of at least three Boeing 777 aircraft to Mahan Air. S Sistem Lojistik allegedly coordinated shipments to Iran that included drone components and industrial equipment, while Mes Cargo reportedly acted as Mahan Air’s general sales agent in Turkey.
Mahan Air subsequently announced that it would suspend its Istanbul and Ankara services from 21 September. The airline had operated several daily flights between Istanbul and Tehran, making Turkey one of its most important remaining international gateways. According to the ft.com, the US Treasury said the decision followed discussions with Turkish authorities over compliance with the new measures.
From Sanctions Lists to Banking Control
The aviation measures were accompanied by an even more consequential financial intervention.
On 4 September, the US Treasury sanctioned Istanbul-based Golden Global Yatırım Bankası and two subsidiaries. Washington alleged that the bank helped Iran’s shadow-banking network transfer oil revenues from China to Turkey, where the funds could be converted into cash and gold. Golden Global rejected the accusations, saying that it complied with Turkish and international banking rules and had no dealings with the sanctioned parties identified by Washington, as underlined by the Reuters.
Less than two weeks later, Turkey’s banking regulator authorised the Savings Deposit Insurance Fund, or TMSF, to exercise the non-dividend shareholder rights attached to 99.98 per cent of Golden Global’s shares. This was not formally the same as revoking the bank’s licence or nationalising all its assets, but it effectively placed control of the institution’s governance in state-appointed hands.
The pressure then spread to Bank Mellat. On 19 September, Turkey’s banking watchdog revoked the operating licence of the Iranian lender’s Istanbul central branch. The official decision did not cite US sanctions or identify a specific operational violation. Instead, it invoked provisions allowing intervention when a bank’s continued operation may endanger depositors or financial stability. Nevertheless, according to the Reuters, the timing placed the decision squarely within Washington’s escalating campaign to isolate Iranian finance.
Energy May Be the Next Pressure Point
The most difficult test concerns natural gas. Turkey continued receiving Iranian gas after its 25-year supply contract expired at the end of July, reportedly taking “make-up gas” that had been paid for but not delivered under the original agreement.
Iran supplied approximately 13 per cent of Turkey’s gas imports in 2025, making it Ankara’s fourth-largest supplier after Russia, Azerbaijan and the United States. Disrupting that flow would therefore be considerably more expensive and politically sensitive than suspending flights or restricting a small bank. The gcaptain.com writes that closing payment channels, however, could make continued purchases increasingly difficult even without a formal Turkish embargo.
Selective Compliance—Or a Strategic Realignment?
Ankara has not joined Washington’s sanctions regime wholesale. Bilateral trade remains formally open, Turkish officials have not abandoned their established rhetoric on Iran, and no comprehensive Turkish embargo has been announced.
Yet the pattern is becoming difficult to dismiss. Within approximately fifteen days, Turkish authorities intervened in a US-sanctioned bank, revoked the licence of an Iranian bank branch and allowed one of Iran’s most important aviation connections to disappear.
The broader diplomatic context matters. In March, Washington and Turkey’s state-owned Halkbank reached a deferred prosecution agreement in the long-running US case concerning alleged Iranian sanctions evasion. The agreement bars Halkbank from transactions benefiting Iran and requires independent scrutiny of its sanctions and anti-money-laundering controls, as underlined by the Reuters.
This does not yet amount to a Turkish rupture with Tehran. It does, however, suggest selective compliance designed to protect Ankara’s access to Western finance and preserve its improving relationship with Washington. Turkey is discovering that it cannot indefinitely remain both Iran’s principal economic escape route and a beneficiary of warmer relations with the United States. Washington’s sanctions are no longer stopping at Iran’s borders—or at the runway.
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