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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.