Why is Iran threatening regional airports, and what could be the impact?

Tehran hints retaliation as Georgia and Azerbaijan suspend Iranian flights amid mounting US sanctions on airlines.

Iran Air Airbus A330 aircraft as seen touching down at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, Amsterdam, the Netherlands, July 2, 2020 [Nicolas Economou/NurPhoto via Getty Images]

Iran has threatened neighbouring countries with retaliation if they enforce new United States sanctions designed to stop Iranian airlines from operating internationally, raising the prospect of further disruption to air travel across a region already affected by nearly seven months of the US-Israel war on Iran.

“I urge all our neighbouring countries not to get involved in the United States adventure. This adventure will very soon end in failure,” Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, told Iranian state media.

list 1 of 3 Iran’s president brings receipts of US strikes on civilians to the UNGA

list 2 of 3 US threatens to ground Iranian airlines worldwide from Wednesday

list 3 of 3 Can the US ban Iranian airlines worldwide – and what would it mean?

The warning came as Iranian carriers cancelled a number of international flights after the US threatened airports and aviation service providers with secondary sanctions if they continued doing business with it. On Thursday, the all Iranian flights to and from the United Arab Emirates were cancelled, the Iranian Students’ News Agency reported.

Azerbaijan and Georgia had on Wednesday confirmed suspending Iranian flights, while flights to Baghdad and Muscat have also been halted. Meanwhile, several connections to Turkiye and China have continued, but many flights to these countries have been cancelled, too.

So, what has Iran said, can it carry out its threats against neighbouring countries, and how could this potentially affect the travel industry in the region?

Rezaei warned on Wednesday that Tehran would retaliate against neighbouring countries that cooperate with the US restrictions.

“If a country cooperates with or embarks on adventures with the United States, its airports will no longer be able to operate flights” to Iran, Rezaei told Iranian state television. Rezaei said Iran would ensure airports in countries stopping Iranian flights “cannot function”.

The warning is part of a broader Iranian attempt to deter countries from participating in Washington’s campaign of economic pressure, which has heightened since the US-Israel war on Iran began on February 28.

What is the backdrop to this threat?

The immediate trigger to this threat from Rezaei is Washington’s attempt to isolate Iran’s aviation industry.

The US Department of the Treasury earlier this month announced sanctions against Iran’s remaining airlines as well as foreign companies and intermediaries accused of helping them operate.

The measures expanded longstanding restrictions on Mahan Air to cover 27 Iranian airlines and also suspended authorisations that had allowed a number of aviation links with Iran. The US accuses Mahan Air of having links to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent then warned that airports and companies servicing Iranian aircraft risk being cut off from the US financial system.

He said they could not provide Iranian carriers with fuel or landing services, or sell them tickets, without risking US penalties.

“Rezaei’s warning is essentially an attempt at coercive deterrence directed at Iran’s neighbours,” Negar Mortazavi, a senior fellow at the US-based Center for International Policy, told Al Jazeera. “Tehran is signalling that it will not regard compliance with US aviation sanctions as a neutral commercial decision, but as participation in Washington’s pressure campaign against Iran.”

“It also shows how the US-Iran confrontation is increasingly pulling third countries into the conflict,” she said.

Can Iran actually do this?

Iran has not publicly explained what action it could take to prevent airports in neighbouring countries from functioning, and Rezaei did not specify whether Tehran’s response would be diplomatic, economic or military.

Iran cannot legally decide whether an airport in another sovereign country accepts Iranian aircraft. Likewise, the US does not have the authority to simply close another country’s airspace.

But Washington can make servicing Iranian aircraft financially risky by threatening local fuel suppliers, ground handlers, ticketing companies and other businesses with secondary sanctions.

“The important point is that Rezaei left the threat deliberately ambiguous,” Mortazavi said. “He did not specify how Iran would make neighbouring airports unable to operate. But the message is clear: if neighbouring states help Washington isolate Iranian aviation, Tehran is threatening to impose reciprocal costs on their aviation sectors.”

And Iran demonstrated, in the opening months of the current war with the US and Israel, that it could bring air travel in the Gulf to a near-halt. After it launched missiles and drones at Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman and Jordan, starting February 28, all of these countries partially or entirely closed their airspace in the early days of March.

They restarted limited operations slowly and one by one: Emirates was the first to start a few flights out of its Dubai hub on March 3, with Abu Dhabi-based Etihad following on March 6, and Qatar Airways the following week. The planes that took off or landed in those early days of the war were accompanied by military jets.

Gulf carriers took months to restore their schedules to normal. The International Air Transport Association estimates their airlines in the the Middle East are on track to post a collective $4.3bn loss in 2026.

The World Travel & Tourism Council estimated in March that the conflict was costing the region about $600m a day in international visitor spending. At about the same time, Tourism Economics forecast international travel to Gulf countries could fall by 25 percent in 2026 due to the war.

Iranian projectiles – either directly or after interception – also hit the Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Kuwait and Bahrain airports.

Wolfgang Pusztai, a security and defence analyst and former Austrian defence attache, told Al Jazeera that he did not expect Iran to attack regional airports this time around. “It is extremely unlikely that Iran will attack these airports,” Pusztai said.

He argued that the immediate practical impact of the US measures could also be limited because Iran retains aviation links with countries that may be less likely to enforce Washington’s restrictions.

“I don’t think that Turkiye will stop working, cooperating with them, or Pakistan or China,” he said. “And moreover, as I said, there are other carriers serving Iran from outside, so the practical impact will be limited.”

Pusztai said the greater effect may instead be psychological, particularly for Iranians who can immediately see the consequences when international flights disappear.

“This will certainly contribute to the perception of the Iranians of increasing isolation, and this is probably the reason for this tough reaction from the side of Iran,” he said.

Unlike restrictions on financial institutions or other secondary sanctions, disruptions to flights are immediately visible, Pusztai said. “Such an air blockade is definitely seen immediately.”

He also cautioned against expecting aviation sanctions alone to force Tehran to change course.

“Will it be enough to break the will of the country? Absolutely not. Absolutely not,” Pusztai said, describing the restrictions instead as another element of Washington’s effort to increase pressure on Iran.

How will this impact the travel industry?

The most immediate effect is on Iranian travellers. International flight capacity from Iran was already 49 percent lower in August 2026 than a year earlier, according to aviation analytics company Cirium.

The latest restrictions have left only a handful of Iranian-operated international routes and pushed thousands of travellers towards land crossings with countries including Turkiye and Armenia.

The effects can spread beyond passengers, experts say, as measures could threaten thousands of jobs in the Iranian aviation industry and related sectors including tourism and hospitality.

For neighbouring countries, further escalation could add another layer of uncertainty to the travel industry in the region, which has seen tourism battered amid ongoing fighting between the US and Iran.

Passenger traffic at major hubs like Dubai International Airport dropped by 31 percent in the first half of 2026 compared with the same period last year.

在美国对航空公司实施更多制裁之际，格鲁吉亚和阿塞拜疆暂停了伊朗航班，德黑兰暗示将采取报复措施。

2020年7月2日，伊朗航空空客A330飞机降落在荷兰阿姆斯特丹史基浦机场。[Nicolas Economou/NurPhoto via Getty Images]

伊朗威胁邻国，如果它们执行旨在阻止伊朗航空公司在国际上运营的新美国制裁，伊朗将进行报复。这增加了该地区航空旅行进一步中断的可能性，而该地区已经受到近七个月的美以对伊战争的影响。

伊朗最高国家安全委员会秘书穆赫辛·雷扎伊对伊朗国家媒体表示：“我敦促所有邻国不要卷入美国的冒险行动。这场冒险很快就会以失败告终。”

伊朗总统向联合国大会提交美国袭击平民的收据（共3项，此为第1项）

美国威胁从周三起在全球范围内停飞伊朗航空公司航班（共3份名单，此为第2份）。

列表 3（共 3 项）：美国能否在全球范围内禁止伊朗航空公司运营——这将意味着什么？

此前，美国威胁称，如果伊朗机场和航空服务供应商继续与其开展业务，将对其实施二级制裁。受此影响，伊朗航空公司取消了多趟国际航班。伊朗学生通讯社报道称，周四，所有往返阿联酋的伊朗航班均被取消。

阿塞拜疆和格鲁吉亚周三证实暂停了飞往伊朗的航班，同时飞往巴格达和马斯喀特的航班也已停飞。与此同时，部分飞往土耳其和中国的航班仍在继续，但飞往这些国家的许多航班也被取消。

那么，伊朗说了些什么？它能否兑现对邻国的威胁？这可能会对该地区的旅游业产生怎样的影响？

雷扎伊周三警告说，德黑兰将对配合美国限制措施的邻国进行报复。

雷扎伊在接受伊朗国家电视台采访时表示，“如果一个国家与美国合作或参与美国的活动，该国的机场将无法再运营飞往伊朗的航班。” 雷扎伊还表示，伊朗将确保那些阻止伊朗航班的国家的机场“无法正常运作”。

这一警告是伊朗为阻止各国参与华盛顿的经济施压行动而采取的更广泛举措的一部分。自2月28日美以对伊朗发动战争以来，华盛顿的经济施压行动愈演愈烈。

这一威胁的背景是什么？

雷扎伊发出这一威胁的直接导火索是华盛顿试图孤立伊朗航空业。

美国财政部本月早些时候宣布对伊朗剩余的航空公司以及被指控帮助其运营的外国公司和中间人实施制裁。

这些措施扩大了对马汉航空的长期限制范围，将涵盖27家伊朗航空公司，并暂停了此前允许多家航空公司与伊朗建立航空联系的授权。美国指责马汉航空与伊朗伊斯兰革命卫队（IRGC）有关联。

美国财政部长斯科特·贝森特随后警告说，为伊朗飞机提供服务的机场和公司有被切断与美国金融体系联系的风险。

他说，如果不冒着受到美国制裁的风险，他们就无法向伊朗航空公司提供燃料或起降服务，也无法向其出售机票。

“雷扎伊的警告本质上是对伊朗邻国的一种胁迫性威慑，”美国国际政策中心高级研究员内加尔·莫尔塔扎维告诉半岛电视台。“德黑兰此举表明，它不会将遵守美国航空制裁视为中立的商业决定，而是视为参与华盛顿对伊朗施压行动。”

“这也表明，美伊对抗正日益将第三国卷入冲突之中，”她说道。

伊朗真的能做到这一点吗？

伊朗尚未公开解释将采取何种行动来阻止邻国的机场运作，雷扎伊也没有具体说明德黑兰的回应将是外交、经济还是军事手段。

伊朗无权决定另一个主权国家的机场是否允许伊朗飞机起降。同样，美国也无权擅自关闭他国领空。

但华盛顿可以通过对当地燃料供应商、地面服务商、票务公司和其他企业实施二级制裁，使为伊朗飞机提供服务在经济上变得风险巨大。

莫尔塔扎维说：“关键在于，雷扎伊故意含糊其辞地发出威胁。他没有具体说明伊朗将如何使邻国机场无法运营。但信息很明确：如果邻国帮助华盛顿孤立伊朗航空业，德黑兰威胁要对其航空业施加对等惩罚。”

在与美国和以色列的这场战争爆发之初，伊朗就展现了其使海湾地区空中交通几乎瘫痪的能力。自2月28日起，伊朗向卡塔尔、沙特阿拉伯、阿联酋、科威特、巴林、阿曼和约旦发射导弹和无人机后，所有这些国家都在3月初部分或全部关闭了领空。

他们逐步恢复了有限的运营：阿联酋航空于3月3日率先从其迪拜枢纽恢复了少量航班，总部位于阿布扎比的阿提哈德航空于3月6日跟进，卡塔尔航空则在接下来的一周恢复了运营。在战争初期，起降的飞机都有军用飞机护航。

海湾地区的航空公司花了数月时间才恢复正常航班时刻表。国际航空运输协会估计，中东地区的航空公司到2026年将累计亏损43亿美元。

世界旅游及旅行理事会3月份估计，这场冲突每天使该地区损失约6亿美元的国际游客消费。几乎与此同时，旅游经济研究所预测，受战争影响，到2026年，前往海湾国家的国际游客数量可能会下降25%。

伊朗的导弹——无论是直接发射还是被拦截后发射——也击中了迪拜、阿布扎比、科威特和巴林的机场。

安全与防务分析师、奥地利前国防武官沃尔夫冈·普斯泰告诉半岛电视台，他预计伊朗这次不会袭击地区机场。“伊朗袭击这些机场的可能性极低，”普斯泰说。

他认为，美国措施的直接实际影响也可能有限，因为伊朗与一些不太可能执行华盛顿限制的国家保持着航空联系。

“我不认为土耳其会停止与伊朗、巴基斯坦或中国的合作，”他说。“而且，正如我所说，还有其他航空公司从境外为伊朗提供服务，因此实际影响将有限。”

普斯泰表示，更大的影响可能是心理上的，特别是对于伊朗人来说，当国际航班消失时，他们可以立即看到后果。

“这无疑会加深伊朗民众对日益孤立的感受，而这或许正是伊朗方面做出如此强硬反应的原因，”他说。

普斯泰表示，与对金融机构的限制或其他次级制裁不同，航班中断的影响是立竿见影的。“这种空中封锁肯定会立即显现出来。”

他还告诫人们不要指望仅靠航空制裁就能迫使德黑兰改变路线。

“这足以瓦解伊朗的意志吗？绝对不够。绝对不够。”普斯泰说道，他认为这些限制措施是华盛顿加大对伊朗施压的又一举措。

这将对旅游业产生怎样的影响？

最直接的影响体现在伊朗旅客身上。据航空分析公司Cirium的数据显示，2026年8月伊朗的国际航班运力已比上年同期下降了49%。

最新的限制措施导致伊朗运营的国际航线寥寥无几，迫使成千上万的旅客转向与土耳其和亚美尼亚等国的陆路口岸。

专家表示，这些措施的影响可能不仅限于乘客，还可能威胁到伊朗航空业及相关行业（包括旅游和酒店业）的数千个工作岗位。

对于邻国而言，局势进一步升级可能会给该地区的旅游业带来更多不确定性，而该地区的旅游业已经因美国和伊朗之间的持续冲突而遭受重创。

与去年同期相比，2026 年上半年迪拜国际机场等主要枢纽的客运量下降了 31%。