Airlines Warned to Avoid Gulf Airspace as Tensions Escalate in Iran

The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) on Tuesday reinstated and toughened its warning to ​airlines operating in the Middle East, telling them to ‌avoid the airspace of Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and over the Gulf of Oman as the U.S.-Iran war flared up again. Just ​a week ago, EASA withdrew its previous advisory following ​a brief easing of regional tensions as a result ⁠of last month’s interim ceasefire between Tehran and Washington. That ​warning had asked airlines to exercise caution when operating within the airspace ​of these countries, as well as Israel, Jordan, Oman, and Saudi Arabia. "The presence ​of major US ​military facilities ⁠in the region increases the likelihood that the states covered by this Conflict Zone Information Bulletin ​may be directly exposed to Iranian missile and ​drone attacks," ⁠EASA said, citing also the risk of misidentification of civil aircraft by U.S. and other air defence systems - Reuters