International Airports

The 2024 report of ICAO’s regional Aerodromes Safety, Planning and Implementation Group identifies Iranian airports in several parts of the country. Its monitoring material includes Imam Khomeini and Mehrabad in Tehran; Shahid Hashemi Nejad in Mashhad; Shahid Beheshti in Isfahan, also transliterated Esfahan; Shahid Dastghaib in Shiraz; and airports in Tabriz, Bandar Abbas, Yazd and Zahedan. These names help international readers recognize airports that may be presented under either a city name or a commemorative name. s1

The report is a regional infrastructure and safety-monitoring document. Its airport inventory is not a schedule of flights and should not be used to infer that every listed airport has continuous international passenger service. The meeting itself called for the monitored list to be updated against each state’s Aeronautical Information Publication, the official reference for published aeronautical information. s1

Historical operational material reinforces the need to distinguish an airport’s designation from its available services. The United States Federal Aviation Administration’s Iran entry in its International Flight Information Manual listed airports of entry at Tehran, Mashhad, Isfahan, Shiraz, Tabriz and Bandar Abbas, among others. However, that document is dated October 2014 and explicitly warns that its accuracy and currency are uncertain. It is useful as a historical reference, not a basis for current entry procedures or route availability. s2

The editorial consequence is straightforward: a current directory needs more than an airport name and code. It requires dated evidence of the services being described. Historical permission to receive international aircraft does not establish that an airline currently sells a route, that a scheduled departure operates, or that the airport is available without temporary restrictions. The FAA document’s own warning makes that limitation explicit. s2

A report by bne IntelliNews on 18 April 2026 described international schedules at Imam Khomeini airport while identifying domestic traffic at Mehrabad. This provides a dated example of different roles within the same metropolitan area; it is not evidence that the distribution of services remained unchanged through October. The same report described reopening after a wartime interruption, demonstrating that the continued existence of infrastructure and the availability of flights are separate questions. s3

A reliable airport comparison must keep its evidence at the right scale. The inspected regional report supports identifying airports and understanding the purpose of infrastructure monitoring. The historical FAA manual supports a dated account of airports of entry. Neither supplies a verified current list of international destinations or a comparable annual traffic series. This page therefore retains the supported geography while withholding rankings, terminal-capacity claims and current route lists pending stronger evidence. s1s2