Earlier this week, Iran further escalated tensions by closing its airspace for several hours, raising fears across the aviation sector. That closure arrived at a pivotal time, during the country’s nationwide protests against the government. The sudden shuttering came as a surprise to all. That made it necessary for many long-haul international flights to reroute well around Iran’s airspace, a key passageway for much of the world’s air traffic.
While the country’s authorities first declared curfew after a violent show of force against protesters. This vicious anti-women violence has taken at least 2,615 lives, making this the deadliest national tide of unrest in Iran in decades. This mounting death toll evokes images of the same violent insurrection seen during Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution. It really shows how bad the status quo has gotten today.
In a somewhat tangential but still relevant note, the head of Iran’s judiciary has called on the government to quickly execute thousands arrested during these protests. This call is yet another sign of the regime’s desperation to stay in control as unrest continues to grow and intensify. Iran has a history of denying its military provocations. This includes downing of Ukraine International Airlines Flight PS752 in 2020, which killed all 176 civilians tragically on board, with the country in turn calling these accusations Western propaganda.
Iran has a dangerous history of misidentifying commercial aircraft as military targets, creating a threatening environment for civil aviation in Iranian airspace. This recent shuttering follows Iran’s abrupt closure of the U.S. Especially, this means their June 12-day war with Israel and other short border clashes during the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.
This airspace restriction happened just as news broke on personnel at CENTCOM’s principal U.S. military basecamp in Qatar getting told to evacuate. This backdrop has further escalated the drastic deterioration of U.S.-Iran relations. U.S. President Donald Trump took to Twitter to address the protesters in Iran, promising them that “help is on the way.” This message suggests that we might see a shift in U.S. policy towards Tehran amidst the regime’s ongoing crackdown.
For Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, the answer lay in prioritizing diplomatic solutions rather than military conflict.
“Between war and diplomacy, diplomacy is a better way, although we don’t have any positive experience from the United States. But still diplomacy is much better than war.” – Abbas Araghchi
When the airspace closure timelimit ran out, domestic flights started flying again following one extension. The aftermath of this incident is still reverberating through global aviation even today. It underscores the fragility of safe air travel over Iranian soil.
