Sanctions on Islamic Republic airlines: Tehran–Dubai trip now takes 18 hours and costs $1,000

More than three weeks after US sanctions came into force against 27 airlines operating in Iran, Iranian passengers are facing cancelled flights, multi-leg routes and tickets many times more expensive. A Tehran–Dubai trip that in late Shahrivar (mid-September) took under three hours and cost $100 to $200 for a ticket now takes up to 18 hours and costs more than $1,000.

Majid Hosseininejad, founder of the Alibaba travel group, has said that about 20 percent of flights from Iran to international destinations have stopped, and ticket sales and airline revenue have fallen.

Which routes were closed

The United States had asked foreign companies to stop providing services to Iranian airlines by 23 September 2026, and threatened airports, fuel suppliers and ground-handling companies with secondary sanctions and loss of access to the American financial system. After that, the UAE, the Republic of Azerbaijan and Georgia suspended flights by Iranian airlines, flights to Muscat and Baghdad stopped, and a number of flights to Turkey were cancelled. On 24 September a Tehran–Dushanbe flight turned back midway after Turkmenistan refused permission to cross its airspace.

Flights to Moscow, Najaf, Istanbul, Yerevan and Guangzhou are still operating. On 11 October the Islamic Republic's Foreign Ministry economic affairs office merely announced that efforts to facilitate Iranian flights to other countries are continuing.

The cost of warmongering for passengers

These sanctions are part of an "economic expulsion operation" that the United States launched in Mordad (July–August) to close the last links between the Islamic Republic's economy and the world; the operation also includes sanctions on banks and exchange houses tied to the Islamic Republic. Iranian airlines, above all Mahan, have for years been used to move Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps personnel and equipment, and the Islamic Republic's war with America and Israel had already driven most foreign airlines out of Iranian skies before these sanctions.

The burden of this isolation now falls on Iranians who travel for medical treatment, work or to see family. An Iranian living in Illinois who is going to Iran for the treatment of a sick mother must now travel via Istanbul and wait hours or days; another Iranian who works between Iran and Oman has said the Muscat–Tehran trip has become many times longer and more expensive and it is unclear when the situation will change. At the same time, the World Bank has reported millions more Iranians pushed below the poverty line this year.

A three-hour trip from Tehran to Dubai on a $100 ticket is now an 18-hour journey costing more than $1,000.