Trump needs to shut down this key Iranian transit artery ASAP

Iran’s corrupt economy is still bleeding; Washington has a narrow, perishable window to bring the regime to its knees.President Donald Trump has shown admirable resolve.His instinct — that America does not need a weak deal with a weakened Iran — is right.The pressure applied over the last three months has produced more coercive leverage over the Islamic Republic than at any point in its 47-year history.Operation Economic Fury grounded Iran’s commercial aviation for 56 days.The US naval blockade is costing the regime an estimated $450 million a day.Iran’s nuclear infrastructure has been severely degraded.

Its air defenses are in ruins.Its ballistic-missile program has collapsed from production of 100 missiles a month to zero.Increasingly desperate and eager to take advantage of the cease-fire, Tehran is moving fast to reopen one artery Washington has not yet closed: the sky.Iran’s airlines are flying again.

Mahan Air, which the regime used to send child soldiers to Syria and weapons to Hezbollah, has relaunched routes to Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Bangkok, Moscow and Islamabad.Iran Air is flying again to Istanbul, Muscat, Doha, Baghdad, Najaf and Baku.At least 15 international routes from Tehran’s Imam Khomeini Airport have been restored since April 25, days after the cease-fire took hold.The regime wants the world to see this as a humanitarian lifeline.Families reunited.

Trade restored.Normalcy returning.Don’t believe it.These are not ordinary airlines.

They are instruments of the Islamic regime and its Revolutionary Guard Corps.Every flight that takes off is an operational asset for a regime that is not done fighting.Iran Air is wholly owned by the government of Iran and is sanctioned under authorities covering Weapons of Mass Destruction nonproliferation and Russian sanctions for facilitating Iran’s drone transfers to Moscow.Mahan Air is owned through the IRGC-controlled charity institute Mol-Al-Movahedin.The Treasury’s own documents sho...