Iran reopens airports after attack on Israel

Flights at Imam Khomeini International Airport in Tehran were back to normal as of 6:00 a.m. (0230 GMT), reports official IRNA news agency

Airports in Tehran and elsewhere in Iran resumed operations Monday, state media said, after a temporary suspension because of an aerial attack on the arch of Israel that heightened regional tensions.

Flights were suspended after Iran launched late Saturday its first-ever direct attack on Israeli territory, using drones and missiles, in retaliation for a deadly April 1 air strike on Tehran’s consulate in Damascus which was widely attributed to Israel.

“Flights at Imam Khomeini International Airport in Tehran were back to normal as of 6:00 a.m. (0230 GMT),” the official IRNA news agency reported.

IRNA said the domestic Mehrabad airport in Tehran and others across the country, including Tabriz in the northwest, Mashhad in the northeast and Shiraz in the south, are all “operating as scheduled.”

The Iranian attack and fears of a potential Israeli reprisal have led some airlines to suspend flights to the region.

Israel has not revealed what its response could look like.

German airline Lufthansa has suspended its flights to and from Iran, while others, including Australian airline Qantas, rerouted planes to avoid Iran’s airspace.

The attack also prompted several countries in the Middle East, including Jordan, Lebanon and Iraq to close their airspace overnight from Saturday to Sunday, but all have reopened.

Iran urges West to ‘appreciate restraint’ 

In a separate development, Tehran on Monday called on Western countries to “appreciate Iran’s restraint” toward Israel after it attacked its regional foe in response to a deadly strike on the Iranian consulate in Damascus.

“Instead of making accusations against Iran, (Western) countries should blame themselves and answer to public opinion for the measures they have taken against the… war crimes committed by Israel,” in its war against Tehran-backed Hamas in Gaza, said Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanani.

The spokesperson added that Western countries “should appreciate Iran’s restraint in recent months.”

Western governments have condemned Iran over its unprecedented drone and missile attack on Israel, which Tehran insists was an act of “self-defense.”

Iran’s first direct attack on Israel, which began on Saturday, was in response to an April 1 strike on Tehran’s consulate in Damascus, which has been widely attributed to Israel.

Source: AFP