Washington has done well targeting Tehran’s shipping, banking and financial networks.
asserted
Washington → do → networks
The regime is increasingly being pushed onto costlier land routes.
asserted
regime → push → routes
But some countries are leaving one major artery relatively open to Iran: the sky.
asserted
countries → leave → Iran
Turkey is among the worst offenders; Washington needs to rein it in.
asserted
Washington → need → it
After Iran reopened its airspace in April, commercial flights returned.
asserted
flights → reopen → April
In May, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Washington would move to deny Iran’s main carriers’ landing rights.
uncertain
Washington → say → rights
Yet they kept flying internationally.
asserted
they → keep → ?
So President Donald Trump went further: In September, the Treasury Department sanctioned all active Iranian airlines, dramatically widening Washington’s economic campaign against Iran’s aviation sector.
asserted
Department → go → sector
Iranian airlines give Tehran access to foreign markets and the ability to transport personnel and weapons across borders, including for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard.
asserted
airlines → give → Guard
That’s why closing Iran’s aviation routes matters and pressuring countries to cut off flights is essential.
asserted
pressuring → ’ → flights
In much of the Middle East, that pressure is working: Iraq, Oman and the United Arab Emirates suspended Iranian flights.
asserted
Iraq → work → flights
Yes, Ankara has taken some steps.
asserted
Ankara → take → steps
Mahan Air, a US-sanctioned Iranian carrier, was supposedly forced to suspend flights to Turkey on Sept. 21.
asserted
Air → sanction → Sept.
Turkey also revoked the operating license of Iran’s Bank Mellat branch in Istanbul, and Turkish carriers remain off routes to Iran.
asserted
carriers → revoke → Iran
Our review of flight histories found more than 90 Iranian airline landings in Turkey after Sept. 23, which is when Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent vowed Iranian airlines’ international flights would be effectively grounded.
asserted
flights → find → Sept.
Those aircraft are not operating in Turkey without help.
asserted
aircraft → operate → help
Turkish companies are providing ground support that keeps sanctioned Iranian carriers operating.
asserted
carriers → provide → support
They handle passengers and cargo and provide critical ramp services at Turkish airports, the kind of support that should put them in Washington’s sanctions crosshairs.
asserted
that → handle → crosshairs
One Turkish company illustrates the problem.
asserted
company → illustrate → problem
FUGO Ground Services has agreements with at least eight US-sanctioned Iranian carriers operating in Turkey, per records from Turkey’s General Directorate of State Airports Authority.
asserted
Services → have → Authority
FUGO provides services including passenger handling and ramp operations under existing and and new contracts: Many were signed or took effect in 2026 — one, just days ago.
asserted
Many → provide → 2026
Recently, that relationship was seen on the tarmac: A Sept. 28 photo 28 shows a Caspian Airlines aircraft being serviced by FUGO at Istanbul Airport.
asserted
aircraft → see → Airport
Caspian is a US-sanctioned Iranian carrier that continued flying to Turkey after Washington’s Sept. 23 deadline.
asserted
that → sanction → deadline
But Turkish entities enabling Iranian sanctions was only part of the story.
asserted
entities → enable → story
Treasury’s sanctions have repeatedly identified Turkish-based businesses and financial institutions that have helped Tehran move money and maintain access to the international financial system.
asserted
Tehran → identify → system
Just last month, Washington sanctioned an Istanbul-based bank for facilitating the use of tens of millions of dollars for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
asserted
Washington → sanction → Corps
Four days later, Treasury sanctioned three Turkey-based companies for supporting Mahan Air, one of Iran’s most notorious sanctioned carriers.
asserted
Treasury → sanction → carriers
Over the years, the Turkish government has breached US sanctions and enabled Iran in numerous ways.
asserted
government → breach → ways
For instance, Halkbank, Turkey’s state-owned lender, carried out what a Justice Department official described as “one of the most serious Iran sanctions violations [Washington] had ever seen.”
asserted
Washington → own → violations
From 2012 to 2016, it converted $20 billion in restricted Iranian oil proceeds into gold and cash, while disguising the transfers as food and medicine shipments.
asserted
it → convert → shipments
Turkish officials were implicated, including President Recep Tayyip Erdogan himself; witnesses testified he ordered the trade.
asserted
he → implicate → trade
But Turkey was let off the hook: In June, a US federal judge dismissed an indictment of the bank without fines or even an admission of wrongdoing.
asserted
judge → let → wrongdoing
It’s not clear why, but Erdogan spent a decade lobbying three administrations to make the case disappear.
asserted
case → ’ → administrations
Turkey may claim it’s a strategic US ally, that it helps fight terrorism and mediate conflicts.
uncertain
it → claim → conflicts
And Trump may personally regard Erdogan favorably.
uncertain
Trump → regard → Erdogan
But Ankara’s longstanding pattern of enabling the regime in Tehran needs to stop.
asserted
pattern → enable → Tehran
Trump needs to recognize Turkey’s playbook is to pretend it’s cooperative by shutting down a channel or two while leaving others running.
asserted
it → need → others
That’s antithetical to what Trump wants.
asserted
Trump → ’ → what
His economic campaign has already yielded positive results.
asserted
campaign → yield → results
Iranian oil exports have been nonexistent while oil from Arab Gulf states is flowing again.
asserted
oil → flow → states
…and 5 more, not listed.
The Aporia
