Iran reopens central, western airspace to international transit flights

Tehran, June 29 (IANS) Iran has announced reopening its airspace in central and western areas to allow international flights, the Roads and Urban Development Ministry announced.

The decision was made following the approval of the Civil Aviation Organization (CAO) of Iran and completion of security and safety assessments by the relevant authorities, ministry spokesman Majid Akhavan said in a statement.

He added the country had earlier reopened its eastern airspace to domestic, international, and passing flights, stressing that no flight would land in or take off from Iran's airports in the northern, southern and western parts.

In another statement, the CAO said the country's airspace in the northern, southern, and western parts would remain closed until 14:00 local time (1030 GMT) on Sunday.

Iran closed its airspace on June 13 following Israeli airstrikes on Tehran and other areas. Following a 12-day aerial conflict, a ceasefire between the two sides was achieved on Tuesday.

The ministry had announced on Wednesday night the reopening of its eastern airspace, saying the move aimed to gradually restore air traffic to pre-conflict levels, Xinhua news agency reported.

"In view of the reopening of Iran's eastern airspace to domestic and international flights, the country's airspace in the northern, southern and western parts will remain closed until 14:00 local time on Friday (1030 GMT)," IRIB quoted Spokesman of Iran's Roads and Urban Development Ministry Majid Akhavan as saying.

Earlier in the day, the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) announced that its 12-day military operation against Iran resulted in significant damage to three of the country’s main nuclear facilities, Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan, dealing a major blow to the Iranian regime’s nuclear infrastructure.

The IDF asserted that Israel launched ‘Operation Rising Lion’ on June 13 intending to damage the Iranian nuclear and missile projects following the identification of progress in the three programmes whose ultimate goal was to “destroy the State of Israel”.

--IANS

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