German airline Lufthansa extends Tehran flight suspension, Russia issues Middle East travel warning
\n Moscow
\nAmidst escalating tensions, Russia, Germany, and Britain urged restraint among Middle Eastern nations, while Israel affirmed it was preparing to \u2018meet all its security needs\u2019 in response to the Iran\u2019s threat to strike Israel on Thursday.
\nThe German airline Lufthansa, one of only two Western carriers flying to Tehran, extended a suspension of its flights to the Iranian capital and Russia warned against travel to the Middle East.
\nIran has vowed revenge for the April 1 airstrike on its embassy compound in Damascus that killed a top Iranian general and six other Iranian military officers, ratcheting up tension in a region already strained by Israel\u2019s invasion of Gaza.
\nIsrael has not claimed responsibility for the attack, but Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Wednesday Israel \u201cmust be punished and it shall be\u201d, saying it was tantamount to an attack on Iranian soil.
\nThe \u201cimperative for Iran to punish this rogue regime\u201d might have been avoided had the UN Security Council condemned the strike and brought the perpetrators to justice, Tehran\u2019s mission to the United Nations said on Thursday.
\nPrime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel was keeping up its war on Gaza but making security preparations elsewhere.
\n\u201cWhoever harms us, we will harm them. We are prepared to meet all of the security needs of the State of Israel, both defensively and offensively,\u201d he said in comments released following a visit to an air force base.
\nIran has signalled to Washington that it will respond to Israel\u2019s attack in a way that aims to avoid major escalation and it will not act hastily, Iranian sources said.
\nIsraeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant told US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin that Israel would respond directly to any attack by Iran, Gallant\u2019s office said.
\nThe conflict has spread across the Middle East since the eruption of Israel\u2019s war on Gaza, with Iran-backed groups declaring support for the Palestinians waging attacks from Lebanon, Yemen and Iraq.
\nTehran has avoided confrontation with Israel or the United States while declaring support for its allies.
\nGerman Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock called on her Iranian counterpart Hossein Amirabdollahian to urge \u2018maximum restraint\u2019 to avoid further escalation.
\nRussia\u2019s foreign ministry told citizens they should not travel to the Middle East, especially to Israel, Lebanon and the Palestinian territories.
\n\u201cRight now it\u2019s very important for everyone to maintain restraint so as not to lead to a complete destabilisation of the situation in the region, which doesn\u2019t exactly shine with stability and predictability,\u201d Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told a news briefing.
\nPotential for miscalculation
\nBritish foreign minister David Cameron said on Thursday he had made clear to Amirabdollahian that Iran should not draw the Middle East into a wider conflict.
\n\u201cI am deeply concerned about the potential for miscalculation leading to further violence,\u201d Cameron said on X (formerly Twitter).
\nUS State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said Secretary of State Antony Blinken called counterparts including the Turkish, Chinese and Saudi foreign ministers \u201cto make clear that escalation is not in anyone\u2019s interest and that countries should urge Iran not to escalate.\u201d
\nUS President Joe Biden said on Wednesday Iran was threatening to launch a \u201csignificant attack in Israel\u201d, and that he had told Netanyahu that \u201cour commitment to Israel security against these threats from Iran and its proxies is iron-clad\u201d.
\nThe US expects an attack by Iran against Israel but one that would not be big enough to draw Washington into war, a US official said late on Thursday.
\nThe US military said on Thursday it had destroyed an anti-ship ballistic missile launched from an area of Yemen controlled by Iran-backed Houthi militia. No injuries or damage were reported to US, coalition or merchant vessels.
\nIran is the third-largest oil producer in the organization of the petroleum exporting countries (OPEC) group and oil prices stayed near six-month highs on Thursday.
\nLate on Wednesday, an Iranian news agency published an Arabic report on the X platform saying the air space over Tehran had been closed for military drills, but then removed the report and denied it had issued such news.
\nLufthansa said it would probably not fly to Tehran before April 13. Austrian Airlines said it was still planning to fly on Thursday but was adjusting timings to avoid crew having to disembark for an overnight layover.
\nIranian air space is also a key overflight route for Emirates\u2019 and Qatar Airways\u2019 flights to Europe and North America.
\nEmirates, Qatar Airways, Turkish Airlines, Aeroflot and Air Arabia, among the airlines that fly to Tehran, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
German airline Lufthansa extends Tehran flight suspension, Russia issues Middle East travel warning Moscow Amidst escalating tensions, Russia, Germany, and Britain urged restraint among Middle Eastern nations, while Israel affirmed it was preparing to \u2018meet all its security needs\u2019 in response to the Iran\u2019s threat to strike Israel on Thursday. The German airline Lufthansa, one […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":399829,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-399817","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n