Oman refuses to open its airspace to Israeli flights following intense pressure exerted on it by Iran, Israel Hayom has learned.
This means that currently, it is not possible to take advantage of the opening of Saudi airspace to Israeli flights in order to shorten the flight routes to the Far East.
Increases the pressure on Oman.
Iranian Foreign Minister, photo: AP
Saudi Arabia has already granted all the necessary permits to the Israeli companies in order to pass through its territory.
The working assumption in Israel was that the opening of Oman's airspace is a purely formal matter, this in light of the fact that normal, even if unofficial, relations between Israel and Oman are disobedient and former Prime Minister Netanyahu even visited the Sultanate in 2018 and met with Sultan Qaboos, who has since passed away.
Netanyahu with Kabus during his visit to Oman, photo: AP
Last week, the CEO of El Al told "Israel Hayom" that she believes Oman will approve flying over its territory within a few days, but as mentioned, a week has passed since then and the long-awaited approval has not been received and the flights to the East are still not being shortened due to an unexpected reason.
According to Dr. Yoel Gozhansky, a senior research fellow at the Institute for National Security Studies and former holder of the Iran and Persian Gulf portfolio at the MLA: "Recently, Iran has greatly increased its pressure and threats on the Gulf countries so that they will not carry out normalization measures vis-à-vis Israel, today he spoke The Iranian Foreign Minister with his Omani counterpart and it can be safely assumed that the issue came up in the conversation between the two."
"Iran increases the pressure on Oman".
Dr. Yoel Gozhansky, photo: Yossi Zeliger
As mentioned, Saudi Arabia already approved a few weeks ago for planes to fly to and from Israel, including Israeli planes over its territory.
The only country that currently prevents the flight on the short route at the moment is Oman.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed that an application was made through professional technical channels to Oman regarding the flights, in light of the above it is not clear if and when it will be approved.
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