Iran reopens airports across the country

Flights were halted after Iran launched its first direct attack on Israeli territory on April 13, using missiles and drones. The attack was in response to an airstrike on the Iranian embassy in Damascus, Syria, which destroyed the consular office on the embassy grounds. Tehran blamed Israel for the attack.

According to the official IRNA news agency, flights at Tehran's Khomeini International Airport resumed normal operations at around 6 a.m. on April 15 (07:30 Vietnam time). In addition, Tehran's Mehrabad domestic airport and other airports across the country, including Tabriz in the northwest, Mashhad in the northeast and Shiraz in the south, were also operating as scheduled.

Airlines such as Lufthansa have suspended flights to and from Iran, while others such as Australia's Qantas have rerouted flights to avoid Iranian airspace. Several countries in the Middle East, including Jordan, Lebanon and Iraq, also closed their airspace overnight from April 13 to 14, but have since reopened them.

On the same day, April 15, EASA - the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EU) continued to advise caution in the airspace of Iran and Israel and about 100 miles around Israel, although there was no risk of flying over these countries' airspace for civil flights. The content of the email sent to EASA airlines stated that the agency is still closely monitoring the situation in the Middle East and the impact on civil aviation activities. Meanwhile, KLM - a Dutch airline - has canceled all flights to and from Tel Aviv until April 16.

In a related development, on April 15, in an interview with the BBC, British Foreign Secretary David Cameron said that the country will consider additional sanctions against Iran following the above attack. According to Mr. Cameron, the UK is applying 400 sanctions against Iran and will continue to consider the next steps.

US House Majority Leader Steve Scalise said members of Congress plan to consider several bills on new sanctions against Iran following its attack on Israel, saying the first bill could be introduced in the House as early as Wednesday evening.