Jafar Yazarloo, spokesperson of Iran’s civil aviation organization, said that flights from several airports in the country will be canceled from Sunday at 9 pm to Monday at 6 am, state media IRNA reported without providing further details.
Tensions are simmering amid concerns of possible Israeli retaliatory airstrikes on Iran.
In an unprecedented move on Tuesday, Iran launched around 180 rockets toward Israel.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said the attack was in response to killing Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, and IRGC commander Abbas Nilforoushan.
Israel has vowed a response for Tehran. Since Tuesday, it has increased operations in Lebanon and strikes in Syria on the premise of targeting Iran-backed Hezbollah and other groups.
“Iran made a big mistake tonight and it will pay for it,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a recorded video message after the Iranian attack.
Iran’s permanent representative to the UN, Amir Saeed Iravani, said on Tuesday that Tehran’s “legitimate response to the terrorist acts of the Zionist regime - which involved targeting Iranian nationals and interests and infringing upon the national sovereignty of the Islamic Republic of Iran - has been duly carried out.”
Iravani warned that if Israel “dares to respond… a subsequent and crushing response will ensue.”
Following the attack, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said his country does not seek war with Israel.
“Based on legitimate rights, and with the aim of peace and security for Iran and the region, a decisive response was given to the aggressions of the Zionist regime. This action was in defense of the interests and citizens of Iran,” Pezeshkian said in a post on X hours after the attack.
He added that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “should know that Iran is not war-seeking but stands firmly against any threat. This is only a glimpse of our capabilities. Do not engage in conflict with Iran.”
The move comes on the eve of October 7, a year after Palestinian Hamas militants launched an unprecedented, large-scale attack on Israeli territory that has prompted large-scale Israeli operations on the Gaza Strip.
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