US renews Mahan Airways export denial order with Gulf and Turkish parties

The US Commerce Department renewed for one year its order denying export privileges to Mahan Airways and parties tied to it in the United Arab Emirates, Türkiye and Iraq, in an order dated 22 October and published in the Federal Register on 27 October.

David Peters, Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Export Enforcement, granted a request from the Bureau of Industry and Security's Office of Export Enforcement to renew the temporary denial order last renewed on 27 October 2025. The order is effective immediately. It finds that renewal for an extended period is appropriate because "Mahan Airways has engaged in a pattern of repeated, ongoing and/or continuous apparent violations" of the Export Administration Regulations.

The denied persons are listed with addresses in Iran, the United Arab Emirates, France, Türkiye, Iraq, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Lebanon and the United Kingdom. They include Mahan Air General Trading LLC and Sirjanco Trading LLC in Dubai, Mehdi Bahrami at Mahan Airways' Istanbul office in Şişli, Iraq's Al Naser Airlines in Baghdad, Bahar Safwa General Trading in Dubai and Sky Blue Bird Group in the Ras Al Khaimah trade zone. The original order dates from March 2008.

The renewal request of 8 September describes aircraft movements. Three of five Boeing 777-212ER aircraft identified in the 2025 renewal order have since been given Iranian registrations and fly Mahan routes, the order says, citing flights on 25 August 2026 from Moscow, Beijing and Muscat to Tehran.

The order also cites Treasury actions. On 30 July the Office of Foreign Assets Control designated parties in China, India and Russia, including what Treasury called general sales agents for Mahan Air, and on 8 September it made further Mahan-related designations in the UAE, Türkiye and Malaysia under Operation Economic Outcast, the order says. EM Governance Review covered that action in its report on the Kazakh, Turkish and UAE firms named.

For freight forwarders, maintenance providers and banks in the Gulf and Türkiye, the order matters because it provides that no person may, directly or indirectly, export, reexport, transfer, finance or service items subject to the US regulations for the denied persons. The order says renewal is needed to prevent imminent violations and to give notice to companies and individuals in the United States and abroad that they should continue to avoid dealing with the denied persons.

The Commerce Department renewed similar orders this month against four Russian airlines. Mahan and the other respondents may appeal to an administrative law judge, related persons may appeal their inclusion, and the bureau may seek a further renewal no later than 20 days before it expires.