Austrian airline suspends flights to Iran. This is the last in the EU to do so

Austrian Airlines suspends flights between Vienna and Tehran due to rising tensions in the region. It was the last Western European airline to fly to Iran.

Reuters writes about it.

Flights from Vienna to Tehran have been canceled until April 18. In addition, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Austria, following the example of other European countries, called on its citizens to leave Iran.

The airline also plans to reroute planes that pass through Iranian airspace, saying "the safety of our passengers and crew is our highest priority."

Earlier, flights to Tehran were canceled by the German parent company of Austrian Airlines, Lufthansa.

Lufthansa and Austrian were the only Western airlines that flew directly to Tehran in recent years after the Dutch KLM and the British British Airways stopped such flights due to low profitability even before the coronavirus pandemic, reports the profile publication Simple Flying.

Escalation in the Middle East

On the morning of April 1, there was an attack on the Iranian consulate in Damascus. Then two Iranian generals and five officers were killed, including the influential Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Zahedi, the senior commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Iran blamed Israel for the attack.

After the strike, Iranʼs Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei declared that "the Zionist regime will be punished." Khameneiʼs military adviser later threatened that none of Israelʼs embassies were "secure anymore."

After Iranʼs threats to retaliate, the IDF strengthened its defenses on April 4 and put units and reserves on alert. At the same time, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reacted to a possible attack by Iran, noting that Israel has been fighting its belligerent neighbor for years and will be able to defend itself.

In the evening of April 12, almost 50 rockets were fired from Lebanon towards the north of Israel. The group "Hezbollah" took responsibility for this — it is an alleged strike in support of Palestinians in Gaza and a response to Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon.

• CNN, citing sources, writes that Iran is preparing a massive attack on Israel in the coming days. The USA will come to Israelʼs aid.