The Islamic Republic of Iran has issued a notice to pilots and airlines to avoid its airspace following threats by Iranian officials of a potential attack on Israel, the Wall Street Journal reports, NBC reports.
This announcement by the Iranian authorities came after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told G7 foreign ministers in a phone call yesterday that Tehran could attack Israel within 24 to 48 hours, according to information provided by two diplomats familiar with the conversation.
Blinken did not specify exactly what kind of attack it should be. Israel said it was ready to “defend itself and respond to any retaliatory attack.”
Washington has declared that it will help defend Israel.
The US said its officials were “working with their international partners to try to defuse tensions in the Middle East following Iran’s warning that it would attack Israel following the assassination of Hamas’s top political leader, Ismail Haniyeh, in Tehran last week.”
Iran’s airspace warning notice translates to commercial and civilian aviation being kept clear without detailing what might come next.
In 2020, Iran shot down a Ukrainian airliner, killing all 176 people on board, hours after America killed Iran’s top general Qassem Soleimani. Iran called the incident unintentional.
The German airline Lufthansa said yesterday that it has extended the suspension of all flights to Tehran, Tel Aviv and Beirut until August 12.
