Iran cancelled flights from all its airports until 6 am (local time) on Monday from 9 pm on Sunday (October 6), the country’s state media said, citing a spokesperson for Iran's Civil Aviation Organisation. This comes as the threat of retaliation by Israel looms in the country. The flights have been cancelled due to operational restrictions, state media cited the spokesperson as saying without providing further details.
Iran implemented restrictions on flights on Tuesday when it launched missiles at Israel, in an attack to which Israel vowed to respond.
Iran’s Foreign Minister on Friday (October 4) warned Israel that Tehran will “retaliate harshly” if it carries out an attack on Iran, in response to the latest missile salvo on the Jewish country on October 1. Iran had launched a massive ballistic missile attack on Israel to retaliate the killing of Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah in an Israeli airstrike last month, further pushing the Middle East to the brink. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had said that Iran committed a big mistake and it will pay for its actions.
Iran had fired over 180 missiles at Israel, most of which were intercepted by the country’s air defence systems. The move, however, escalated the tensions in the Middle East which were already soaring due to the Israel-Hezbollah conflict.
“If the Israeli entity takes any step or measure against us, our retaliation will be stronger than the previous one,” Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said.
His remarks came after meeting Lebanon’s Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri in Beirut. The minister said that Iran’s attack on Israel was in “legitimate self defense” after its attacks on Iran and the Iranian consulate in Syria in April.
