The Iranian government seeks to exploit the decline of U.S. and French influence in sub-Saharan Africa to increase its political, economic, and military influence on the continent. This expansion began in Burundi, Burkina Faso, the Republic of Congo, and has now extended to Nigeria.
The U.S. Treasury Department has sanctioned both the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and many Iranian officials due to their support for terrorism, though since the Biden administration entered office in 2021, the Iranian regime has implemented measures to circumvent sanctions.
For decades, sanctions imposed on the Iranian Aviation Industries were challenging for the regime and its military and civilian entities to bypass. However, as the Revolutionary Guards expanded their Africa presence, Mahan Air, Iran’s largest airline, was able to use its connections on the continent to acquire passenger aircraft and business jets from Africa into Iran. Given the dual use nature of aircraft, similarity between civilian aircraft and military variants as well as some interchangeable spare parts, its Africa connection allows the Revolutionary Guards to bypass sanctions.
Mahan Air, Iran’s largest airline, was able to use its connections on the continent to acquire passenger aircraft and business jets from Africa into Iran.
Mahan Air, for example, has exploited the negligence of Nigerian authorities to smuggle passenger aircraft. On November 15, 2024, Nigerian airline Azman Air, the country’s seventh largest airline, delivered an Airbus A340-642 widebody passenger aircraft to Mahan Air. That day, while the aircraft was flying from Kano to Kabul, its crew turned off the Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) transponder at an altitude of 39,000 feet after entering Iranian airspace, though it eventually landed at Tehran’s Mehrabad International Airport.
According to an anonymous source from Iran’s Civil Aviation Organization, Mahan Air subsequently has sought to obtain more Azman Air Airbus A340-642 widebody passenger aircraft. On December 11, 2024, French authorities intercepted one such plane at the Châteauroux airport 150 miles south of Paris as it was preparing to fly to Kaduna, where Azman Air intended to store it for several days before changing its registration code and then flying it to Iran.
Mahan Air operates 22 Airbus A340s, including four leased to Conviasa, the flag carrier of Venezuela. The A340s are crucial for Mahan Air to transport cargo and passengers to destinations in China and Thailand, as well as to airlift Qods Force personnel, proxies, and weapons to Beirut, and previously to Damascus, Aleppo, and the Russian-Syrian airbase at Hmeimim as well.
The Nigeria example highlights how the U.S. intelligence community must better monitor aircraft movements in African countries.
The A340-642 series is the largest of the Airbus A340 variants, with a capacity of 308 passengers. The use of Rolls Royce Trent 556-61 engines makes it easier for Mahan Air to maintain these aircraft, compared to the smaller A340 variants powered by American-made General Electric CFM56-5C4 engines. This ease of maintenance is a key factor driving Mahan Air’s efforts to acquire more of these aircraft through Nigeria.
The Nigeria example highlights how the U.S. intelligence community must better monitor aircraft movements in African countries, particularly in the sub-Saharan region, to identify planes that Iran may seek as part of its sanctions evasion operation.
Azman Air is just one example of the many companies involved in Mahan Air’s recent sanction evasion operations in Africa. Macka Invest in Gambia and PT Asia Global Airlines from Indonesia also have helped Mahan Air and other Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-linked Iranian airlines to acquire airplanes, registering them in countries like the Republic of Congo, Burundi, Burkina Faso, Nigeria, and Gambia before smuggling them into Iran. By imposing sanctions on these companies, the U.S. Department of the Treasury can also impede the Iranian aviation smuggling networks.
President-elect Donald Trump can reimpose “Maximum Pressure” to tighten the screws on the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and its extensive business empire but if his policy is to succeed, he needs to identify Iran’s sophisticated strategies to evade such sanctions. Plugging the Revolutionary Guards’ exploitation of African airlines would be a good place to start.
