Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commander in chief, Maj. Gen. Hossein Salami, announced that Tehran has issued a notice to aviation authorities to avoid its airspace, in the center, west and north-west regions of the country, amid ongoing threats by Iranian officials to attack Israel. This was after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told G-7 foreign ministers that Tehran could attack Israel within 24 to 48 hours, as disclosed by two of the diplomats.
Israel has stated it is ready to defend against and respond to any retaliatory strike, and Washington has affirmed its commitment to help defend Israel.
US officials have been collaborating with international partners to relax tensions in the Middle East following warnings from Iran and pro-Iranian militias about attacking Israel in response to the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas’ top political leader, in Tehran last week.
Haniyeh was in Tehran to attend the inauguration of Iran’s new president and, in a significant security failure for Iran, was killed by a bomb while staying in an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps guesthouse, reports The Wall Street Journal.
The killing of Haniyeh occurred hours after Israel announced that it had assassinated a top Hezbollah commander in Beirut, prompting promises of retaliation from Iran-backed Hezbollah.
Iran and Hamas, who blame Israel for Haniyeh's death, disputed that he was killed by a bomb, claiming instead that he was struck by a missile. Israel has not publicly commented on the incident.
The notification from Iran about its airspace, issued at 7:45 a.m. CET, is a typical message to commercial and civilian aviation authorities, providing essential real-time information to pilots to stay away from specific areas, without disclosing further data.
Israel has put its military on high alert, while US officials have been coordinating with military assets and regional partners to prepare for a potential attack. Some fear this could be broader and more complex than the Iranian assault in April, during which Iran fired over 300 drones and missiles at Israel, but it had notified diplomats of its intentions in advance, allowing Israel and the US to prepare. Consequently, most of the projectiles were intercepted before reaching Israel.
However, this time Iran has refused to provide detailed warnings, increasing concerns about the potential impact of any strike.
According to one of the diplomats who received a briefing on Sunday’s G-7 call, Blinken informed his counterparts that if an Iranian attack on Israel is of a similar scale to April’s assault, it could severely undermine any future engagement between Iran and the US. Over the past 18 months, the two countries have engaged in sporadic indirect talks through Omani officials, but such a large-scale attack could jeopardize these efforts.