US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has warned that Iranian airlines will have trouble functioning globally in two days under the weight of American sanctions – as the Trump administration seeks to keep pressure on Tehran.
Tomorrow, ‘all the Iranian airlines will be shut down around the world’, Bessent told CNBC in an interview.
“If they land, you cannot provide them with fuel, you cannot provide them with landing services, you cannot sell them tickets or you will be knocked out of the dollar system,” he added.
The United States and Iran have been at war since late February, when US-Israeli strikes killed Iran’s supreme leader and senior military officials at the start of a broad offensive.
Tehran countered by blocking the Strait of Hormuz, a vital waterway for energy transit, causing global oil prices to surge as the conflict spread in the Middle East.
Earlier this month, the United States imposed sanctions on ‘all remaining Iranian airlines’ that had yet to face such penalties.
The Treasury Department also took aim at targets for supporting Iran’s aviation sector, including firms based outside Iran.
Bessent previously vowed the United States would declare ‘economic D-Day’ on Iran and pledged to choke off Tehran financially.
Bessent’s comments came a day after he met Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng for economic talks laying the groundwork for President Donald Trump’s summit this Thursday with Chinese leader Xi Jinping.
China is one of Iran’s top economic partners and diplomatic backers.
Iran’s aviation sector has long grappled with sanctions, which have restricted its ability to acquire aircraft, spare parts and maintenance services.
Bessent also said that Chinese officials have been ‘very engaged’ in the US economic pressure campaign against Iran.
He said the US was having positive discussions with Chinese financial authorities, including People’s Bank of China Governor Pan Gongsheng, on compliance with US sanctions on Iran.
The United States, meanwhile, refused to issue visas for members of Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian’s delegation, including his communications team, for this week’s trip to the UN General Assembly, Iranian state media reported.
Pezeshkian will be the highest-ranking Iranian official to enter the United States since the war began in February.
“In an unprecedented hostile move by the US government, US President Donald Trump has denied US visas to certain members of the president’s high-level delegation, including members of his communications team,” state news agency Irna reported.
The US has authorised the Iranian delegation to travel for the UN General Assembly but will, like last year, put restrictions in place.
Iran’s delegation will not, for instance, be allowed to purchase luxury goods or other items, the State Department said on Thursday.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, part of the delegation to the UN, left Iran on Sunday evening for a stopover in Qatar.
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