Iran yesterday closed its airspace to commercial flights for hours without explanation as tensions remained high with the US over Tehran’s bloody crackdown on nationwide protests.
The closure ran for more than four hours, according to pilot guidance issued by Iran, which lies on a key East-West flight route. International carriers diverted north and south around Iran, but after one extension, the closure appeared to have expired and several domestic flights were in the air just after 7am.
Although there were no signs of hostilities, the closure immediately rippled through global aviation.
Photo: AP
“Several airlines have already reduced or suspended services, and most carriers are avoiding Iranian airspace,” said the Web site SafeAirspace, which provides information on conflict areas and air travel. “The situation may signal further security or military activity, including the risk of missile launches or heightened air defense, increasing the risk of misidentification of civil traffic.”
The airspace closure came as some personnel at a key US military base in Qatar were advised to evacuate. The US embassy in Kuwait also ordered its personnel to “temporary halt” going to the multiple military bases in the small Gulf Arab country.
The UN Security Council scheduled an emergency meeting on Iran at the request of the US for yesterday afternoon.
Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump said he had been told that killings in Iran’s crackdown on protests were easing and that he believed there was no current plan for large-scale executions, adopting a wait-and-see posture after earlier threatening intervention.
Iranian state media yesterday reported that a 26-year-old man arrested during the protests in Karaj would not be given the death sentence, after a rights group reported earlier this week that he was due to be executed on Wednesday.
Trump’s remarks at the White House came after fears grew in the Middle East that Washington could launch strikes, following his repeated threats to intervene on behalf of Iranian protesters. Trump did not rule out possible US military action.
In separate comments, Trump said in an interview that Iranian opposition figure Reza Pahlavi “seems very nice,” but expressed uncertainty over whether Pahlavi would be able to muster support within Iran to eventually take over.
Pahlavi has emerged as a prominent voice during the unrest. The US-based Pahlavi, 65, has lived outside Iran since before his father, the last shah of Iran, was toppled.
“He seems very nice, but I don’t know how he’d play within his own country,” Trump said. “And we really aren’t up to that point yet. I don’t know whether or not his country would accept his leadership, and certainly if they would, that would be fine with me.”
It is possible the government in Tehran could fall due to the protests, but that in truth “any regime can fail,” Trump said.
“Whether or not it falls or not, it’s going to be an interesting period of time,” he said.
The clerical establishment has cracked down hard on one of the biggest challenges to its rule since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Rights groups have said that at least 3,428 people have been killed in the protests in the unrest that spiraled out of protests over soaring prices.
Additional reporting by AFP
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