EP-MTB
Mahan Air Boeing 777-200ER designated by OFAC on 24 April 2026 for Iran-Turkey-UAE missile and drone procurement logistics.
Last refreshed: 24 April 2026 · Appears in 1 active topic
How does targeting a specific aircraft tail number disrupt Iranian arms logistics?
Timeline for EP-MTB
Designated under NSPM-2 sanctions
Iran Conflict 2026: OFAC cuts fifth round, 14 targets- What is the EP-MTB aircraft and why was it sanctioned?
- EP-MTB is the Iranian civil registration of a Boeing 777-200ER operated by Mahan Air. It was sanctioned by OFAC on 24 April 2026 in the fifth Iran nonproliferation round for use in Iran-Turkey-UAE Ballistic missile and drone procurement routes.Source: https://ofac.treasury.gov/recent-actions/20260424
- Why did OFAC sanction Mahan Air's Boeing 777 in April 2026?
- OFAC designated the EP-MTB Boeing 777-200ER as part of sanctions bulletin sb0465 targeting procurement chains for Iran's Ballistic missile and Shahed-series drone programmes across Iran, Turkey, and the UAE.Source: https://ofac.treasury.gov/recent-actions/20260424
- What legal authority did OFAC use to sanction EP-MTB?
- OFAC cited National Security Presidential Memorandum 2 (NSPM-2) and the September 2025 UN Security Council snapback authority, requiring no new Trump executive order for the designation.Source: https://ofac.treasury.gov/recent-actions/20260424
Background
EP-MTB is the Iranian civil aviation registration of a Boeing 777-200ER operated by Mahan Air. On 24 April 2026 the US Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designated the aircraft in sanctions bulletin sb0465, the fifth Iran nonproliferation round of the war. The designation targets the specific airframe for its alleged role in Iran-Turkey-UAE ballistic missile and Shahed-series drone procurement chains.
Designating specific aircraft registrations rather than the airline at the entity level is an OFAC tactic aimed at the asset itself: once designated, the aircraft cannot legally land at any US-sanctioned jurisdiction, be maintained by any US-linked parts supplier, or be insured by most international aviation insurers. This makes the aircraft operationally toxic in commercial aviation terms while leaving the broader Mahan Air fleet temporarily untouched by the specific action.
Mahan Air has faced OFAC sanctions since 2011 for its IRGC and Hezbollah logistics connections. The EP-MTB designation adds an aircraft-level layer to the entity-level sanctions framework, targeting a specific logistics asset rather than the organisation as a whole.
