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US Treasury Lifts Sanctions on Fly Baghdad Airlines

morning · · thread: US and Iran Pause Military Strikes Amid Continued Drone Attacks on Saudi Oil Sites

2 sources across 2 countries · Israel · Singapore · 1 of them is linked to a state

Who reported this

  • The Jerusalem Post Israel · Centre-right · Mirkaei Tikshoret (Eli Azur)
  • The Straits Times Singapore · Centre-right · State-affiliated · SPH Media Trust; management shares under the NPPA

What the colours mean

  • Left
  • Centre-left
  • Centre
  • Centre-right
  • Right
  • A hatched block means the outlet is affiliated with, or controlled by, a state.

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Every outlet covering this story shares the same political lean; read with that in mind.

The US Treasury Department removed Iraq's Fly Baghdad Airlines, Iraq Express, and two Boeing 737 aircraft from its Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) list of Specially Designated Nationals on Wednesday. The airline and its aircraft had been under sanctions since January 2024 due to alleged links to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). Specifically, the US had previously alleged that the airline supported IRGC operations by transporting personnel and weapons, including rifles and ballistic missiles.

A Treasury official stated that the removal of these sanctions followed changes in the airline's behavior and that the company had addressed sanctionable conduct. However, the official emphasized that the move does not indicate a shift in US policy toward Iran or the IRGC, nor is it related to negotiations to end conflict in the Middle East. The US maintains that it could reimpose sanctions on the airline at any time.

While the airline was delisted, sanctions remain in place for CEO Basheer Abdulkadhim Alwan Al-Shabbani. The State Department claims he maintains ties to the IRGC. Additionally, Fly Baghdad remains on the EU Air Safety List and is banned from the European Union.

Both reports, coming from center-right outlets, present the delisting as a procedural result of behavioral changes rather than a diplomatic shift. One report provides broader geopolitical context regarding a conflict between the US and Iran, mentioning military strikes and tensions in the Strait of Hormuz.

How each side framed it

Centre-right
Outlets of this lean framed the event as a routine administrative reconsideration of sanctions based on behavioral changes rather than a change in broader US foreign policy.

Sources

100% of the statements in this article were traced back to the source articles listed above.