European regulator warns airlines to avoid Iranian airspace

The European Union’s aviation regulator urges the bloc’s airlines to avoid flying in Iran’s airspace.

“The presence and possible use of a wide range of weapons and air-defense systems, combined with unpredictable state responses …. creates a high risk to civil flights operating at all altitudes and flight levels,” the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) says in a bulletin on potential conflict zones.

With ongoing tensions and the potential for US military action, which has placed Iranian air defense forces on a heightened state of alert, there is an increased likelihood of misidentification within Iranian airspace, the advisory says.