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With the German airline Lufthansa not flying to Iran for security reasons and Russia urging its citizens not to travel to the Middle East, the president of the United States, Joe Biden, wanted to reaffirm his “unwavering” support for Israel against Tehran and its allies, despite their differences with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the management of the war in Gaza. It has done so in the face of the military response, promised hours before by the Iranian supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, to the murder by Israel of 13 people - including an important military commander - last week in a bombing against a consular building in Damascus.
“As I told Prime Minister Netanyahu, our commitment to Israel's security in the face of these threats from Iran and its allies is unwavering. “We are going to do everything we can to protect Israel's security,” Biden assured after Iran and the Jewish State exchanged warnings during the day, raising fears of a regional war. Ayatollah Khamenei insisted that “the Zionist regime […] must be punished, and will be punished” because by “attacking an Iranian consulate in Syria it is as if it had attacked Iranian soil.” And the Foreign Minister of the country in question, Israel Katz, wrote in English, Hebrew and Persian: “If Iran attacks from its territory, Israel will respond and attack Iran.”
In this context, the head of the United States Central Command, Michael Kurilla, landed this Thursday in Tel Aviv, on an unscheduled visit in which he will meet with the Minister of Defense of Israel, Yoav Gallant; and Lufthansa has extended at least until Saturday the suspension of its flights with Iran as origin or destination. “We are constantly assessing the situation in the Middle East and in close contact with the authorities. The safety of our customers and crew members is Lufthansa's top priority,” the airline stressed. It is the only Western airline, along with its subsidiary Austrian Airlines, that flies to Iran. Austrian Airlines maintains the flights (six per week), but is going to restructure the schedules to prevent its staff from having to sleep there, just as Lufthansa did over the weekend.
Sources from the United States intelligence services cited by the Bloomberg agency suggest that Iran or one of its allies (such as Hezbollah, in Lebanon; the Houthis, in Yemen; or militias in Iraq or Syria) will attack imminently with a high-precision missile or drone targets Israeli military or government targets. The sources point out that the plan does not consist of directing them against civilians and that the doubts already reside in when, not if it will happen. The fear is that the Iranian response will in turn generate Israeli retaliation and the region will enter a broader conflict. The Russian Foreign Ministry has recommended its citizens refrain from traveling to the Middle East, mainly to Israel, Palestine and Lebanon.
A few days ago, Israeli military aviation carried out joint maneuvers with its Cypriot partners simulating an attack on a distant target, such as Iran, Israeli military radio Galei Tsahal reported this Thursday. These are unprecedented maneuvers in recent months, in which the Air Force has focused on bombing Gaza and Lebanon. A senior commander of the force pointed out on the radio the importance of aviation having “autonomous capabilities”, without “counting on anyone”, alluding to the level of involvement that Washington would assume in a broad regional conflict in defense of its great ally.
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At dawn, the Iranian news agency Mehr announced on its official account on X, the social network formerly called Twitter, the closure of the capital's airspace for "military exercises." He then deleted it and later denied having published it, reports the Reuters agency.
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