The airspace restrictions began amid concerns that US President Donald Trump could attack Iran.
Published January 15, 2026
Iran has temporarily suspended most flights following US President Donald Trump’s threats against the country, US aviation officials said.
Most flights are prohibited from Iranian airspace from 1:45 a.m. local time to 4 a.m. local time (22:15 to 12:30 a.m. GMT) and from 4:44 a.m. to 7 a.m. Thursday (1:14 a.m. to 3:30 a.m. GMT), according to a notice issued by the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
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The restriction was applied to all commercial flights without “prior approval” from Iran’s Civil Aviation Organization (CAO), the notice said.
Online aviation tracking service Flightradar showed just three planes flying over Iran as of 6:05 a.m. local time, with dozens more flying near the border. Iranian airspace was reopened around 7 a.m. local time.
The FAA and CAO did not respond to requests for comment.
The airspace restrictions come amid US President Donald Trump’s threat to attack Iran following Tehran’s deadly crackdown on anti-government protests inside the country.
The United States and Britain withdrew scores of military personnel from Qatar’s al-Udeid Air Base on Wednesday after a senior Iranian official said his government had warned that President Donald Trump would target U.S. forces in the region if he launched an attack.
Many countries have also issued advisories to their citizens in the region due to concerns of escalation.
President Trump appeared to tone down his rhetoric against Iran late Wednesday, saying he had received assurances from “significant sources” that the killing of protesters in the country had stopped.
Safe Airspace, a website run by aviation safety group Ops Group, said airspace closures could signal “further security or military activity” and warned of “an increased risk of missile launches, increased air defenses, and misidentification of civilian traffic.”
In 2020, Iranian air defense forces shot down a Ukraine International Airlines flight in Tehran shortly after takeoff, killing all 176 people on board.
A 2021 report by Iran’s CAO concluded that the operator of a missile battery misidentified a Ukrainian aircraft as a “hostile object” and that officials did not adequately assess the risk to civilian aircraft amid tensions with the United States.
