Iran has canceled flights on the Tehran-Baghdad and Tehran-Muscat routes, according to reports from Iran. The move expands an earlier decision to ground all flights from Tehran to Baghdad from midnight tonight, as The Zioneer reported.
Tonight, Iran expanded its flight grounding to include the Tehran–Muscat route, according to reports from Iran. The expansion came shortly after The Zioneer reported at 20:57 that Iran's Aviation Authority had confirmed all flights to Baghdad would be canceled from midnight. An updated report at 21:22 indicated the grounding now also covers the Muscat route. The reason for the cancellations has not been stated.
The development follows a series of events reported by The Zioneer earlier today (Tue 00:32 Jerusalem). At that time, an Iraqi official told Al Jazeera that Iraq had ordered its airports to block Iranian aircraft, citing US sanctions. Ground service providers had ceased operations. Shortly after, Iran confirmed it would cancel all flights to Baghdad from midnight, as reported by security analyst Yair Goldblatt.
This pattern of Iranian aviation restrictions during periods of regional tension has been documented by The Zioneer in previous incidents. On June 8, Iran suspended all flights nationwide after an Israeli strike, and on June 14, flights from western airports were halted (The Zioneer, Jun 8, 16:55 Jerusalem; Jun 14, 21:15 Jerusalem). The current move appears to mirror those earlier measures, though no direct trigger has been linked.
The reason for the expansion to the Muscat route remains unclear, and no official explanation has been provided by Iranian authorities.
6 developments
- StrongUAE suspends Iranian airlines flights indefinitely, citing US sanctions
- StrongFlights suspended at Erbil airport until further notice, reports say
- StrongAmerica warns citizens to leave Iraq immediately as analysts predict multi-day campaign
- StrongSaudi outlet: US Treasury tells Iraq to seal land crossings with Iran, bar Iranian flights
Source and signal
- Open-source intake