An-Nahar calls the aviation halt "effective and very fast"; Asharq Al-Awsat says routes "including China" stayed open

What took effect. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said aviation service providers worldwide are barred from dealing with Iranian airlines from Wednesday, on pain of exclusion from the dollar system, An-Nahar reports. Washington sanctioned 27 further Iranian airlines and the foreign firms that serve them.

What stopped. Iran's civil aviation organisation halted flights to Baghdad and Muscat and said it was negotiating to divert the Baghdad flights to Najaf, An-Nahar reports. A travel agent in Tehran told AFP that Baghdad, Muscat, Qatar, Georgia and Azerbaijan were all suspended, Asharq Al-Awsat reports.

Where the accounts split.

A second instrument. An-Nahar and LBCI both carry the UAE central bank barring Bank Melli's Emirati branches from any transaction to or from Iran.

Not settled. No report we hold counts the flights cancelled or the flights flown. Only An-Nahar mentions Turkey, so both the Mahan Air cancellation and the aircraft that landed anyway rest on one account. No airline and no aviation authority outside Iran is quoted directly. No passenger is quoted anywhere.

What this is about. Washington has told the companies that fuel, service, insure and handle aircraft anywhere in the world to stop working with Iranian airlines or lose access to the dollar. Wednesday was the day that order began to apply.

How it got here. Iran's airlines have lived under American sanctions for most of the time since the 1979 revolution and the rupture of relations with the United States, largely unable to buy Western aircraft or spare parts. The 2015 nuclear agreement between Iran and six world powers lifted part of that; the United States withdrew from the deal in 2018 and restored the sanctions, and the aircraft sales stopped again. Mahan Air, named in Wednesday's reporting, has been designated by the US Treasury since 2011 over its links to the Revolutionary Guard. Asharq Al-Awsat places this week's measures after what it calls a nearly seven-month war between the United States and Iran, and describes them as part of Bessent's earlier threat of an "economic D-Day".

Who is in it, and why. The instrument is not a ban on Iran but on everyone else. Secondary sanctions reach foreign companies, so a Turkish ground handler, an Azerbaijani airport or a Gulf bank must choose between Iranian custom and the American financial system. That is why the day's news is about Iraq, Azerbaijan, Turkey, Oman, Qatar, Georgia, Armenia, the United Arab Emirates and China rather than about Iran alone. The Emirates have long been Iran's nearest banking and re-export hub, which is what makes a ruling against an Iranian state bank's branches there consequential.

What is at stake. If service providers comply, Iran's remaining air links close one at a time. If they do not, Washington has to decide whether to punish states it needs.

Where it stands. On the first day, some routes stopped and others flew.