WASHINGTON — Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Thursday he will be “shutting down” Iranian airlines — after a Post op-ed called attention to their illicit cash flow — and also slapped sanctions on the new Iranian entity set up to toll the Strait of Hormuz.
Bessent leads President Trump’s Operation Economic Fury — a financial squeeze complementing US military efforts — and announced the moves despite reports that a peace framework is complete and awaiting Trump’s final approval.
The Trump administration will “be shutting down both Iranian airlines’ access to landing spots, refueling, and ticket sales. Only a satisfactory outcome in negotiations will end the downward spiral,” Bessent announced.A Post op-ed written last week by Mark Dubowitz and Miad Maleki of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies called on the administration to tactically target Iran’s airlines.
Dubowitz and Maleki warned that Mahan Air and Iran Air had restored 15 international routes since the ongoing cease-fire took effect on April 8, offering the beleaguered regime an income infusion.
“Iran’s airlines are not just flying passengers,” the op-ed argued. “They are flying cash, weapon components and foreign fighters. They are the second front of Iran’s economy, and right now, that front is open.”
Bessent told a Post reporter at a White House briefing Thursday that the airlines were “outlaws.”
“When these airlines fly, they have to be refueled, they sell tickets, they pay landing fees. Anyone who accepts those, we will sanction,” Bessent said.
“So, they should be very clear that the state-owned Iranian airlines are outlaws and cannot do this.”
Bessent said there would be narrow exceptions.
“One thing that we’re not going to do is restrict movement for religious reasons, so Iranians who want to make the pilgrimage to Mecca or Medina will be allowed,” he said. “We will also allow valid humanitarian reasons.”
Bessent also took aim Thursday at Iran’s new Persian Gulf Strait Authority (PGSA) and warned shipping companies against paying tolls to cross the Strait of Hormuz.
“The [Treasury] continues our Economic Fury campaign against the Iranian regime. Their troops are not getting paid, the police are not reporting for work, and Kharg Island is shut down,” Bessent wrote on X.
“The Iranian economy and currency are in free fall. Iran’s Persian Gulf Strait Authority is a joke, and today Treasury has sanctioned it.”
The PGSA was created earlier this month to allow Iran to extract payments from oil tankers and cargo ships stuck in the strategic waterway since the US and Israel attacked Iran on Feb. 28.
“We have warned any corporate or state entities against paying tolls or hiding them as aid payments,” Bessent added.
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“Forming a Wall of Steel, the U.S. Naval Blockade has ensured a record low amount of Iranian crude on the water.”
The sanctions effectively warn companies that they could be cut off from the global financial system if they pay Iranian tolls.
The deterrent comes one day after President Trump threatened to bomb Oman if it entered a pact with Iran to jointly administer transit fees.
“It’s international waters, and Oman will behave just like everybody else, or we’ll have to blow them up. They understand that,” Trump said at a cabinet meeting.
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