Iran issued a notice to pilots and aviation authorities to avoid its airspace amid ongoing threats by Iranian officials to attack Israel.
Iran’s notification on Monday came after U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on a call Sunday told a Group of Seven foreign ministers that Tehran could attack Israel within 24 to 48 hours, according to two diplomats briefed on the call. Blinken didn’t say what form an attack could take.
Israel has said it is prepared to defend against and respond to any retaliatory strike. Washington has said it would help defend Israel.
U.S. officials have been working with their international partners to try to contain tensions in the Middle East amid warnings by Iran and pro-Iranian militias that they will attack Israel following the assassination of Hamas’ top political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran last week.
The notification from Iran about its airspace, which happened at 7:45 a.m. CET, is typically used by aviation authorities to provide essential real-time information to pilots that wasn’t known in advance. It is essentially a stay-away message to commercial and civilian aviation without any indication of what may follow.
Iran in 2020 shot down a Ukrainian airliner, killing all 176 people on board in the hours following the U.S. assassination of top Iranian general, Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani. It called the incident unintentional.
Also on Monday, German airliner Lufthansa said that it had extended its suspension of all flights to Tehran, Tel Aviv and Beirut until Aug. 12.
Israel has put its military on high alert, while U.S. officials have worked to get military assets and regional partners ready to stop an attack that some fear could be broader and more complex than an Iranian assault in April.
In April’s attack, Iran fired more than 300 drones and missiles at Israel, but only after telegraphing its response to diplomats ahead of time and giving Israel and the U.S. a chance to prepare. Ultimately, most of the projectiles were shot down before reaching Israel. But this time, Iran has refused to provide detailed warnings that would help mitigate the impact of any strike.
According to one of the diplomats briefed on Sunday’s G-7 call, Blinken told his counterparts that if an Iranian attack on Israel is of a similar scale to April’s attack, it could close off any future engagement between Iran and the U.S., who have held sporadic indirect talks through Omani officials over the past 18 months.
Last week’s killing in Tehran of Haniyeh, who was there to attend the inauguration of Iran’s new president, was an embarrassing security failure for Iran. He was killed by a bomb while staying in an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps guesthouse, The Wall Street Journal has reported.
The killing of Haniyeh came hours after Israel said it killed a top Hezbollah commander in Beirut, spurring promises of retaliation from Iran-backed Hezbollah.
Iran and Hamas, which blame Israel for the attack, disputed that a bomb killed Haniyeh, saying he was struck by a missile. Israel hasn’t publicly commented on the killing.
