By Kanishka Singh
WASHINGTON, April 27 (Reuters) – Businesses working with Iranian airlines risk U.S. sanctions, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Monday, calling the warning a part of a campaign to put economic pressure on Tehran during the U.S. and Israel’s war against Iran.
Here are some details:
• Iranian state media reported over the weekend that Iran has resumed commercial flights from Tehran’s international airport for the first time since the start of the war.
• Iran’s state media reported that flights were scheduled to depart for Istanbul, Oman’s capital of Muscat, the Saudi city of Medina and for Iraq and Qatar.
• The U.S. Treasury Department has said Washington is imposing a “financial stranglehold” on the Iranian government.
• “Doing business with sanctioned Iranian airlines risks exposure to U.S. sanctions,” Bessent said in a post on X.
• “Foreign governments should take all actions necessary to ensure that companies in their jurisdictions do not provide services to those aircraft, including the provision of jet fuel, catering, landing fees or maintenance,” he said.
• A fragile ceasefire in the Iran war began nearly three weeks ago.
• The U.S. and Israel attacked Iran on February 28. Iran responded with its own strikes on Israel and Gulf states with U.S. bases. The war has killed thousands and displaced millions in several countries, including Lebanon.
(Reporting by Kanishka Singh and Jasper Ward in Washington and Menna Alaa El Din in Cairo; Editing by Caitlin Webber)
