This week, the UAE barred Bank Melli branches from transfers to and from Iran and grounded Iranian carriers; Turkey canceled Mahan Air routes and revoked Bank Mellat’s Istanbul branch license amid a U.S. Treasury campaign to sever Iran’s economic lifelines.
Scott Bessent launched Treasury’s Operation Economic Outcast in August. The Wall Street Journal reported that assistant secretary Jonathan Burke spent two weeks warning Iran’s trading partners that financial or aviation ties could threaten their access to the U.S. financial system; Treasury met representatives of more than 50 countries. The UAE’s central bank cited money-laundering and terrorism-financing violations in its Bank Melli order. Oman barred Mahan Air flights; the carrier still flies to China and Russia, Iran’s two largest remaining commercial partners. Britain’s Treasury says it will not renew the license for Bank Melli’s London subsidiary when it expires Oct. 22.
Iran offered through Qatar at the U.N. to reopen the Strait of Hormuz within a week if Washington lifted its naval blockade and eased sanctions. Trump rejected an Iranian truce proposal on Saturday; Tehran said the deal could have reopened shipping through the strait within a week. The U.S. naval blockade, first imposed in April, remains in force.
