Why is Iran threatening regional airports, and what could possibly be the affect? | Aviation News

Iran has threatened neighbouring nations with retaliation in the event that they implement new United States sanctions designed to cease Iranian airways from working internationally, elevating the prospect of additional disruption to air journey throughout a area already affected by almost seven months of the US-Israel warfare on Iran.

“I urge all our neighbouring countries not to get involved in the United States adventure. This adventure will very soon end in failure,” Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, advised Iranian state media.

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The warning got here as Iranian carriers cancelled a lot of worldwide flights after the US threatened airports and aviation service suppliers with secondary sanctions in the event that they continued doing enterprise with it. On Thursday, the all Iranian flights to and from the United Arab Emirates had been cancelled, the Iranian Students’ News Agency reported.

Azerbaijan and Georgia had on Wednesday confirmed suspending Iranian flights, whereas flights to Baghdad and Muscat have additionally been halted. Meanwhile, a number of connections to Turkiye and China have continued, however many flights to those nations have been cancelled, too.

So, what has Iran mentioned, can it perform its threats in opposition to neighbouring nations, and the way may this probably have an effect on the journey trade within the area?

What has Iran mentioned?

Rezaei warned on Wednesday that Tehran would retaliate in opposition to neighbouring nations that cooperate with the US restrictions.

“If a country cooperates with or embarks on adventures with the United States, its airports will no longer be able to operate flights” to Iran, Rezaei advised Iranian state tv. Rezaei mentioned Iran would guarantee airports in nations stopping Iranian flights “cannot function”.

The warning is a part of a broader Iranian try to discourage nations from taking part in Washington’s marketing campaign of financial strain, which has heightened for the reason that US-Israel warfare on Iran started on February 28.

What is the backdrop to this risk?

The rapid set off to this risk from Rezaei is Washington’s try and isolate Iran’s aviation trade.

The US Department of the Treasury earlier this month introduced sanctions in opposition to Iran’s remaining airways in addition to international corporations and intermediaries accused of serving to them function.

The measures expanded longstanding restrictions on Mahan Air to cowl 27 Iranian airways and in addition suspended authorisations that had allowed a lot of aviation hyperlinks with Iran. The US accuses Mahan Air of getting hyperlinks to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent then warned that airports and corporations servicing Iranian plane danger being lower off from the US monetary system.

He mentioned they might not present Iranian carriers with gas or touchdown companies, or promote them tickets, with out risking US penalties.

“Rezaei’s warning is essentially an attempt at coercive deterrence directed at Iran’s neighbours,” Negar Mortazavi, a senior fellow on the US-based Center for International Policy, advised Al Jazeera. “Tehran is signalling that it will not regard compliance with US aviation sanctions as a neutral commercial decision, but as participation in Washington’s pressure campaign against Iran.”

“It also shows how the US-Iran confrontation is increasingly pulling third countries into the conflict,” she mentioned.

Can Iran really do that?

Iran has not publicly defined what motion it may take to stop airports in neighbouring nations from functioning, and Rezaei didn’t specify whether or not Tehran’s response could be diplomatic, financial or army.

Iran can’t legally determine whether or not an airport in one other sovereign nation accepts Iranian plane. Likewise, the US doesn’t have the authority to easily shut one other nation’s airspace.

But Washington could make servicing Iranian plane financially dangerous by threatening native gas suppliers, floor handlers, ticketing corporations and different companies with secondary sanctions.

“The important point is that Rezaei left the threat deliberately ambiguous,” Mortazavi mentioned. “He did not specify how Iran would make neighbouring airports unable to operate. But the message is clear: if neighbouring states help Washington isolate Iranian aviation, Tehran is threatening to impose reciprocal costs on their aviation sectors.”

And Iran demonstrated, within the opening months of the present warfare with the US and Israel, that it may convey air journey within the Gulf to a near-halt. After it launched missiles and drones at Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman and Jordan, beginning February 28, all of those nations partially or completely closed their airspace within the early days of March.

They restarted restricted operations slowly and one after the other: Emirates was the primary to start out just a few flights out of its Dubai hub on March 3, with Abu Dhabi-based Etihad following on March 6, and Qatar Airways the next week. The planes that took off or landed in these early days of the warfare had been accompanied by army jets.

Gulf carriers took months to revive their schedules to regular. The International Air Transport Association estimates their airways within the the Middle East are on monitor to submit a collective $4.3bn loss in 2026.

The World Travel & Tourism Council estimated in March that the battle was costing the area about $600m a day in worldwide customer spending. At about the identical time, Tourism Economics forecast worldwide journey to Gulf nations may fall by 25 % in 2026 because of the warfare.

Iranian projectiles – both immediately or after interception – additionally hit the Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Kuwait and Bahrain airports.

Wolfgang Pusztai, a safety and defence analyst and former Austrian defence attache, advised Al Jazeera that he didn’t count on Iran to assault regional airports this time round. “It is extremely unlikely that Iran will attack these airports,” Pusztai mentioned.

He argued that the rapid sensible affect of the US measures is also restricted as a result of Iran retains aviation hyperlinks with nations that could be much less more likely to implement Washington’s restrictions.

“I don’t think that Turkiye will stop working, cooperating with them, or Pakistan or China,” he mentioned. “And moreover, as I said, there are other carriers serving Iran from outside, so the practical impact will be limited.”

Pusztai mentioned the higher impact might as a substitute be psychological, notably for Iranians who can instantly see the results when worldwide flights disappear.

“This will certainly contribute to the perception of the Iranians of increasing isolation, and this is probably the reason for this tough reaction from the side of Iran,” he mentioned.

Unlike restrictions on monetary establishments or different secondary sanctions, disruptions to flights are instantly seen, Pusztai mentioned. “Such an air blockade is definitely seen immediately.”

He additionally cautioned in opposition to anticipating aviation sanctions alone to power Tehran to alter course.

“Will it be enough to break the will of the country? Absolutely not. Absolutely not,” Pusztai mentioned, describing the restrictions as a substitute as one other ingredient of Washington’s effort to extend strain on Iran.

How will this affect the journey trade?

The most rapid impact is on Iranian travellers. International flight capability from Iran was already 49 % decrease in August 2026 than a yr earlier, based on aviation analytics firm Cirium.

The newest restrictions have left solely a handful of Iranian-operated worldwide routes and pushed 1000’s of travellers in direction of land crossings with nations together with Turkiye and Armenia.

The results can unfold past passengers, consultants say, as measures may threaten 1000’s of jobs within the Iranian aviation trade and associated sectors together with tourism and hospitality.

For neighbouring nations, additional escalation may add one other layer of uncertainty to the journey trade within the area, which has seen tourism battered amid ongoing combating between the US and Iran.

Passenger visitors at main hubs like Dubai International Airport dropped by 31 % within the first half of 2026 in contrast with the identical interval final yr.