Iranian airlines cancel all flights to UAE, ISNA reports
The report comes as most of Iran's external flights remain grounded and the standoff over the Strait of Hormuz continues.
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Map: The Gulf and Hormuz, marking Strait of Hormuz
UpdateThursday, September 24, 2026 at 11:20 AM ET
The suspension was ordered by the UAE's Civil Aviation Authority, not initiated by Iranian airlines as the earlier ISNA report suggested.
The UAE's Civil Aviation Authority has suspended flights by Iranian airlines to and from the UAE, according to the authority.
All flights operated by Iranian airlines to the United Arab Emirates have been cancelled, the semi-official news agency ISNA reported.
The cancellations follow a broader grounding of Iranian air traffic. Treasury Secretary Bessent has said 80% to 90% of Iran's external flights are already grounded. The disruption comes against a tense backdrop over the Strait of Hormuz: Iran has said the waterway will stay shut until Washington accepts a safe-passage route brokered with Oman, and has set a deadline of four to five days for a response. The United States has rejected an earlier Iranian proposal to reopen the strait, according to Yonhap. Iran's Foreign Ministry has separately said any return to nuclear talks depends on an end to what it calls a naval blockade, along with other conditions.
The halt in flights to the UAE points to a shift from statements to actual restrictions on movement between Iran and the Gulf. Secretary of State Rubio has confirmed that Iran fired at commercial ships, adding a military dimension to what had been a negotiating standoff. For markets watching energy and shipping routes through Hormuz, the grounding suggests the risk calculus now has to account for incidents on the water and in the air, not just positioning at the negotiating table.