The United States on Tuesday sanctioned three companies based in Turkey, accusing them of helping Iran’s Mahan Air obtain aircraft originating in the US and move drone components and other cargo.
The US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) added Sky Phoenix Airways, S Sistem Logistics and MES Cargo to its sanctions list. Sky Phoenix is registered in the western province of İzmir, while S Sistem and MES Kargo are based in İstanbul, OFAC records show.
Sky Phoenix and United Arab Emirates-based ECT Aviation Support served as intermediaries in the transfer of at least three Boeing 777 aircraft to Mahan Air during the summer, the Treasury Department alleged.
The aircraft came from a retired fleet and received temporary registrations after passing through ECT Aviation Support before reaching Mahan Air through a route involving the United Arab Emirates and Oman.
S Sistem coordinated shipments of unmanned aerial vehicle components and industrial equipment bound for Iran on behalf of Mahan Air, according to the department.
MES Kargo served as a general sales agent for the Iranian carrier and coordinated shipments for its international operations.
The designations block property belonging to the companies that is in the United States or controlled by US persons and bar most transactions involving them under US jurisdiction.
Foreign banks that process transactions for the companies could also face secondary sanctions or restrictions on their access to the US financial system.
The US allegations have not been independently verified.
The three companies and the Turkish government had not issued public responses to the sanctions as of Wednesday.
Mahan Air has faced US counterterrorism sanctions since 2011 over Washington’s accusation that it provided financial, material and technical support to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force (IRGC-QF).
The broader action targeted 36 entities, among them 27 Iranian airlines and aviation companies in the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, Malaysia and Kazakhstan.
The United States also suspended three aviation authorizations that had permitted some overflights and allowed foreign airlines to operate US-made or US-controlled aircraft in Iran.
The new designations came four days after Washington sanctioned İstanbul-based Golden Global Bank and two subsidiaries over alleged transactions for the IRGC-QF.
Together, the two actions have put six Turkey-based entities on US sanctions lists in five days as part of Operation Economic Outcast, Washington’s campaign to cut Iran off from international financial and transport networks.
