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Iran reopens airspace after closure to most flights amid US attack threats

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Iran reopens airspace after closure to most flights amid US attack threats

Airspace restrictions come amid fears that US President Donald Trump could attack Iran.

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Iran temporarily closed its airspace to most flights amid attack threats by United States President Donald Trump, according to the US aviation authority.

Most flights were prohibited from Iranian airspace between 1:45am and 4:00am local time (22:15 to 00:30 GMT) and again from 4:44 am to 7am (01:14 to 03:30 GMT) on Thursday, according to the notices posted by the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

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The restrictions applied to all commercial flights without “prior approval” from Iran’s Civil Aviation Organisation (CAO), according to the notices.

FlightRadar, an online flight tracking service, showed just three aircraft over Iran as of 6:05am local time, with dozens of planes flying around the country’s borders. Iran’s airspace reopened at about 7am local time.

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The FAA and CAO did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The airspace restrictions come amid threats by US President Donald Trump to attack Iran following Tehran’s deadly crackdown on antigovernment protests in the country.

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The US and the United Kingdom on Wednesday withdrew a number of military personnel from Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, after a senior Iranian official said Tehran had warned that it would target US forces in the Middle East region if Trump launched an attack.

A number of countries have also issued advisories to their citizens in the region amid fears of escalation.

Trump appeared to lower his rhetoric towards Tehran later on Wednesday, saying he had received assurances from “important sources” that the killings of protesters in Iran had stopped.

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Safe Airspace, a website run by the aviation safety organisation OpsGroup, said the airspace closures could signal “further security or military activity” and warned of the “risk of missile launches or heightened air defence, increasing the risk of misidentification of civil traffic”.

In 2020, Iran’s air defences shot down a Ukraine International Airlines flight shortly after it took off in Tehran, killing all 176 people on board.

A 2021 report by Iran’s CAO concluded that the missile battery’s operator had misidentified the Ukrainian aircraft as a “hostile object”, and that officials had not properly evaluated the risks to commercial planes amid tensions with the US.

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Week in Pictures: From Israeli air raids on Lebanon to bombing in Pakistan

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Week in Pictures: From Israeli air raids on Lebanon to bombing in Pakistan
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From thousands of people attending the funeral for Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, the most prominent surviving son of Libya’s former leader Muammar Gaddafi, to a deadly suicide bombing in a Pakistani mosque that killed dozens, and a pro-Palestine rally in Yemen, here is a look at the week in photos.

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Video: Athletes and Protesters Criticize U.S. Policies at Winter Games in Milan

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Video: Athletes and Protesters Criticize U.S. Policies at Winter Games in Milan

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Athletes and Protesters Criticize U.S. Policies at Winter Games in Milan

Displays of anti-U.S. sentiment have turned up at the Milan Winter Games. Vice President JD Vance was booed at the Olympics opening ceremony, and anti-ICE protesters took to the streets to demonstrate.

I think that as a country, we need to focus on respecting everybody’s rights and making sure that we’re treating our citizens, as well as anybody, with love and respect. And I hope that when people look at athletes compete in the Olympics, they realize that that’s the America that we’re trying to represent. If it aligns with my moral values, I feel like I’m representing it. Just because I’m wearing the flag doesn’t mean I represent everything that’s going on in the U.S. So yeah, I just want to do it for my friends and my family and the people that support me.

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Displays of anti-U.S. sentiment have turned up at the Milan Winter Games. Vice President JD Vance was booed at the Olympics opening ceremony, and anti-ICE protesters took to the streets to demonstrate.

By McKinnon de Kuyper

February 7, 2026

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Trump’s special envoy Witkoff and Kushner visit US aircraft carrier amid Iran tensions, talks

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Trump’s special envoy Witkoff and Kushner visit US aircraft carrier amid Iran tensions, talks

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U.S. Special Envoy for Peace Missions Steve Witkoff along with Jared Kushner and Adm. Brad Cooper, the commander of U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM), visited the USS Abraham Lincoln in the Arabian Sea on a scheduled deployment Saturday.

The visit comes amid tensions with Iran as Witkoff said the service members were “keeping us safe and upholding President Trump’s message of peace through strength,” and a day after the U.S. and Iran held talks in Oman to discuss Iran’s nuclear program.

“We thanked the sailors and Marines, observed live flight operations, and spoke with the pilot who downed an Iranian drone that approached the carrier without clear intent,” Witkoff wrote on X. “Proud to stand with the men and women who defend our interests, deter our adversaries, and show the world what American readiness and resolve look like, on watch every day.”

The aircraft carrier left San Diego in November for the Indo-Pacific region and moved to the Middle East in January.

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IRAN VOWS TO ‘TARGET US BASES’ IF AMERICAN FORCES LAUNCH AN ATTACK: REPORT

Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner flew to the USS Lincoln on Saturday in the Arabian Sea. (CENTCOM/X)

“I join the American people in expressing our incredible pride in the Sailors and Marines of the Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group,” Cooper told the service members. “Their dedication to the mission and professionalism are on full display here in the Middle East as they demonstrate U.S. military readiness and strength.”

This comes as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said he would meet with President Donald Trump in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday to discuss Iran.

IRANIAN OFFICIAL SAYS NUCLEAR TALKS WILL CONTINUE AFTER US, TEHRAN NEGOTIATIONS HAD ‘A GOOD START’ IN OMAN

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Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner flew out to the USS Lincoln with Adam Cooper on Saturday, according to officials. (CENTCOM/X)

“The prime minister believes that all negotiations must include limiting ballistic missiles, and ending support for the Iranian axis,” Netanyahu’s office said, referring to Tehran’s support for groups such as Hezbollah and Hamas.

The two leaders last met in September.

Trump described Friday’s Oman talks, which included Witkoff and Kushner, as “very good.”

Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner greeting Omani Foreign Minister Sayyid Badr Hamad Al Busaidi ahead of U.S.-Iran talks, in Muscat, the capital of Oman, on Friday. (Oman Foreign Ministry/Anadolu via Getty Images)

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“Iran looks like it wants to make a deal very badly,” the president told reporters Friday aboard Air Force One en route to Mar-a-Lago. “We have to see what that deal is.”

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