“All the signals are that a US attack is imminent, but that is also how this administration behaves to keep everyone on their toes,” a Western military official said.
Flight tracker websites showed the airspace over Iran and Iraq emptying rapidly prior to the NOTAM’s issuing. The prohibition was scheduled to last a little over two hours and end at around 2:30 a.m. Israel time, but was later extended to 5:00 a.m. Israel time.
India’s largest airline, IndiGo, said some of its international flights were impacted by Iran’s sudden airspace closure. A flight by Russia’s Aeroflot bound for Tehran returned to Moscow after the closure, according to tracking data from Flightradar24.
Shortly before the NOTAM was issued, US President Donald Trump held a press conference in the Oval Office, in which he said he was told that the killings in Iran were “stopping.”
When asked if the US was still considering military action, Trump answered, “We’re going to watch and see what the process is.”
eave Iran
Earlier on Wednesday, a senior Iranian official told Reuters that Iran warned regional countries that it would strike US military bases in those countries in case of a US attack.
