Turkish Airlines suspends flights to Iran until at least March 2027

Turkish Airlines has pulled the plug on flights to all five of its Iranian destinations, with no resumption planned before March 28, 2027. The move effectively severs one of Iran’s most important remaining connections to global aviation, a consequence of escalating US sanctions and regional instability.

The affected routes include Tehran Imam Khomeini, Esfahan, Mashhad, Shiraz, and Tabriz.

How it got here

The suspensions trace back to late February 2026, when the US-Israel-Iran conflict threw the region’s airspace into chaos. NOTAM restrictions cascaded across Iran and several neighboring countries. Turkish Airlines wasn’t alone in grounding service. Pegasus Airlines, Turkey’s other major carrier, also halted Iranian routes during the same period.

On September 8, 2026, the US Treasury launched what it called “Operation Economic Outcast,” imposing sanctions on more than 27 Iranian airlines and associated entities. The operation targeted the financial infrastructure that kept Iranian aviation functioning, threatening secondary sanctions against any foreign entity that continued doing business with the designated companies.

Two weeks later, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent delivered a public warning on September 21 that Iranian airlines would face worldwide grounding starting September 23, 2026. For foreign carriers like Turkish Airlines, continuing Iranian operations meant risking exposure to US secondary sanctions, which could cut them off from the dollar-denominated financial system.

What Turkey loses, what Iran loses more

The airline has also removed eleven other destinations from its schedule, affecting various cities across Africa and Europe. But the Iranian suspensions carry a different weight. Turkey and Iran share a border, extensive trade ties, and millions of people who regularly travel between the two countries.

The sanctions architecture tightens

Turkish authorities have reportedly been monitoring the risks associated with Iranian operations closely, balancing their own strategic interests against the threat of secondary sanctions exposure.

Notably, Turkish Airlines has not announced a permanent discontinuation of the Iranian routes. The March 2027 target date reads more like a placeholder than a firm commitment, a way of keeping the routes technically alive on the schedule while acknowledging that conditions on the ground make near-term resumption impossible.