ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - The Iranian civil aviation on Sunday decided to suspend all flights to and from the country until Monday morning, closing its airspace, citing "operational restrictions."

 

"Due to operational restrictions, the flights of the country's airports will be canceled from 21:00 tonight until 6:00 tomorrow,” Iranian semi-official Mehr News Agency quoted Jafar Yazerloo, the spokesman of the Civil Aviation Organization, as saying.

 

 

The sudden decision by Tehran comes amid heightened regional tensions in the wake of the country's missile attacks on Israeli territory last Tuesday, the second attack of its kind since April.

 

The Israeli government has repeatedly vowed it would respond to the ballistic missile attacks on his country, while promising to continue its attacks on Lebanon and Gaza. 

 

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) launched around 200 ballistic missiles toward Tel Aviv and several other regions of Israel on Tuesday night. Tehran claimed that ninety percent of the missiles hit their targets, while Israel and the US said that most of the projectiles were intercepted.

 

Israeli top officials following the attack warned Iran to expect “severe consequences” following the attack.

 

“Iran made a big mistake tonight, and it will pay the price for it,” said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, calling the Iranian attack a “failure”.

 

Israeli media on Saturday reported that the military is planning a “serious and significant" response to the recent large-scale Iranian missile attack.

 

The Israeli military is also reportedly planning a response against the militias in Iraq, after two of its soldiers were killed in a drone strike launched from Iraq on Friday. 

 

On Saturday Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi warned that if Israel chooses to retaliate for the recent ballistic missile attack, Iran will respond with an “even stronger” reaction, stressing that Tehran will stand by the “resistance” groups under any circumstances.

 

"Our response to any attack by the Zionist regime is clear. Any action by Israel will be met with a reaction from Iran that is proportional and even stronger. We have proven this in the past, and they can test our resolve once again,” Araghchi said in a press conference.