No plane, no gain: US aviation sanctions ground ordinary Iranians while missing the regime
Borzou Daragahi
asserted
sanctions → ground → regime
Hossein-Reza’s plans to leave Iran for a trip to see friends and family in the Netherlands in October were waylaid by the US imposition of sanctions on the country’s aviation sector in August as part of Operation Economic Outcast – Washington’s attempt to isolate Iran economically.
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plans → leave → Iran
Would he be able to find a ticket to Amsterdam, he wondered?
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he → find → Amsterdam
Would he be forced to travel by road to neighbouring Turkey or Armenia?
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he → force → Turkey
While some respond to such uncertainty with anxiety or even dread, Hossein-Reza, a 40-something documentarist, was relaxed.
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Reza → respond → anxiety
After a year in Iran that included chaos and gunfire on the streets, warfare in the skies, internet blockages and economic devastation, and questions about the country’s very future, he is taking the travel hiccup in his stride.
“I never even try to book a ticket until a day or two before I have to leave,” he said in an interview, on the condition that his full name not be published.
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name → include → condition
The US has placed some of the toughest financial restrictions on Iran ever imposed on an adversary – and the sanctions continue to intensify as the conflict drags on.
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conflict → place → adversary
The pressure campaign has gone far beyond travel bans on targeted individuals or sanctions on the weapons trade or dual-use goods to include, since September, punishments of third-country companies that do business with 27 airlines and companies in Iran’s civilian airline sector and restrictions on the country’s auto and rail industry.
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that → go → industry
The result has complicated the supply of some crucial medicines into the country as well as any travel and commerce.
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result → complicate → country
Flights to a number of neighbouring countries – including Iraq, Azerbaijan and Oman – have been cancelled.
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Flights → neighbour → Iraq
However, air travel to Russia and China have not been affected, and sporadic flights to the major air hubs of Istanbul and Dubai continue.
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flights → affect → Istanbul
A video posted on social media platform X on Sept 24 showed a flight crew aboard an Iranian Varesh Airlines flight from Tehran to the Tajikistan capital of Dushanbe returning home after its route through Azerbaijani airspace was denied.
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route → post → airspace
The severe sanctions on aviation add to what many describe as growing despair and malaise among many ordinary Iranians.
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many → add → Iranians
“Iranians will be resilient as long as there is hope,” said one Western diplomat who recently left Tehran.
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who → be → Tehran
Hamidreza Ahmadi, a Tehran tech entrepreneur, described growing frustration among ordinary Iranians as they struggle to understand the uncertainties the conflict has thrust upon their lives.
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conflict → describe → lives
He described frustration over contradictory statements and goals by US President Donald Trump – from regime change, to a peace deal, to halting a nuclear programme supposedly destroyed in 2025, to reopening the Strait of Hormuz that was already open before the war began.
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war → describe → Hormuz
“Geopolitically, everyone’s very, very confused,” he said.
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he → ’ → ?
“Like, what do you mean America’s almost out of munitions?
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America → mean → munitions
They see Iran is getting weaker.
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Iran → see → ?
They feel that.
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They → feel → that
But they also see a bunch of Iranian missiles and a bunch of drones landing.
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bunch → see → drones
Iranians describe difficulties in securing jobs, with youth unemployment rates estimated to be as high as 50%, a freezing of investment and business expansions, as well as price increases, including for subsidised fuel and petroleum products that are the lifeblood of the Iranian economy.
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that → describe → economy
Prices for some drugs have tripled, according to local reports, while food prices have soared.
uncertain
prices → triple → reports
Iran’s year-on-year inflation reached 84% in August.
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inflation → reach → August
“Sanctions are something that, wherever you are on the political spectrum, affects you on a daily basis, and nobody can see a way out of it,” Ahmadi said in an interview.
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Ahmadi → affect → interview
In theory, sanctions are supposed to punish the regime rather than ordinary people.
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sanctions → suppose → people
But compliance experts say companies effectively refrain from doing even non-restricted commerce with entities linked to a country as heavily sanctioned as Iran.
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companies → say → Iran
“Most companies are going to de-risk and just not assume the legal hurdles that need to be jumped through,” Brett Erickson, founder of Obsidian Risk Advisors, a US consultancy focused on international crime and due diligence, told The Straits Times.
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Erickson → go → Times
“And that’s something we see with Gaza and Yemen and so many countries where technically it is allowed.
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it → ’ → Gaza
But in reality, we see huge shortfalls as a result of companies not wanting to assume the risk.
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companies → see → risk
Pharmaceuticals and foods are specifically excluded from sanctions, but companies often refrain just to avoid the hassles and hurdles of any trade with Iran.
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companies → exclude → Iran
Trump administration officials and their supporters know that the sanctions hurt ordinary Iranians.
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sanctions → know → Iranians
But this is precisely the goal – raise public frustrations to a level where the people turn on the regime.
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people → raise → regime
Beyond sanctions, the US has very few options, experts said.
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experts → have → options
“The problem with sanctions is we’ve plucked all the low-hanging fruit,” Alan Eyre, a former US State Department official who was part of the team that negotiated the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran said in an interview.
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that → pluck → interview
“We’ve plucked all the high-hanging fruit.
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We → pluck → fruit
We’ve cut the tree down.
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We → cut → tree
So it’s not as if there are a lot of super-duper effective sanctions that we haven’t used.
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we → ’ → that
The latest round of sanctions significantly differs from previous rounds because they focus on an entire sector of the economy, regardless of whether an individual or company is involved in any activity deemed harmful by the US.
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individual → differ → US
“It essentially just cuts off the entire industry, regardless of whether it has a nexus to someone who is sanctioned by the US,” said Erickson.
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Erickson → cut → US
…and 27 more, not listed.
The Aporia
