A Lufthansa plane parks on the tarmac at Frankfurt Airport, Germany, June 25, 2020.
Kai Pfaffenbach | Reuters
Germany’s Lufthansa announced on Wednesday that it would suspend flights to and from Tehran from April 6 until possibly April 11 “due to the current situation in the Middle East.”
Following the suspected bombing of the Iranian consulate in Syria by Israeli jets on April 1, regional countries and the United States have been on high alert, preparing for a possible attack by Iran.
“We are constantly monitoring the situation in the Middle East and are in close contact with the authorities. The safety of our guests and crew is Lufthansa’s top priority,” a company spokesperson told Reuters.
A spokesperson said the company did not proactively announce the suspension when it went into effect Saturday.
supreme leader of iran, Ayatollah Ali Khameneisaid on Wednesday that Israel “must and will be punished” for attacking the Iranian embassy in Damascus.
In an apparent response to Khamenei, Israeli Foreign Minister Yisrael Katz said on Wednesday that Israel would respond if Iran attacked Israel from its homeland.
Bloomberg reported Wednesday night, citing U.S. and Israeli security officials, that the U.S. and its allies believe that a major missile or drone attack on Israeli military and government targets by Iran or its proxies is imminent. It was reported that
Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards took off from Tehran airport on January 8, 2020, at a time of heightened tensions between Tehran and the United States over the killing of a top Iranian military commander in a U.S. drone strike. Shortly after, a Ukrainian International Airlines passenger plane was shot down. At Baghdad Airport.
The Iranian government later said the shooting of the Ukrainian was a “disastrous mistake” by its troops, who were on high alert.
In retaliation for the killing of Qassem Soleimani, head of Iran’s elite overseas forces. fired a missile at a military base On January 3, US troops were detained in Iraq.
Iran has been supporting groups that have been in conflict across the region since Israel launched its invasion of Gaza following Hamas’ October 7 attack on southern Israel.
According to the Gaza Ministry of Health, more than 33,000 Palestinians have been killed in six months of Israeli bombing of Gaza. Hamas’ October 7 attack on Israel killed 1,200 people, according to Israeli tallies.