BERLIN

German airline Lufthansa has announced that it was suspending flights to and from the Iranian capital until April 18 due to security concerns.


"Due to the current situation, Lufthansa is suspending its flights to and from Tehran until Thursday, April 18,” a company spokesperson told German news agency DPA on Friday.


Lufthansa does not rely solely on government assessments, but evaluates the current security situation itself, and then makes its own decisions, the spokesperson said.


The decision came amid heightened tensions between Iran and Israel, following a missile strike on the Iranian Consulate in the Syrian capital, Damascus, earlier this month, which killed several top generals and members of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.


Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz threatened Wednesday that his country’s military would strike Iran directly if Tehran launched an attack from its territory against Israel.


Several media outlets reported on Friday that the Israeli army was preparing for a direct attack from Iran, in the north or south of the country, within the next 24 to 48 hours.


The escalation came as Israel continues to wage a deadly military offensive on the Gaza Strip following a cross-border attack in early October by Hamas, which killed around 1,200 people.


More than 33,600 Palestinians have since been killed in Gaza and over 76,000 injured amid mass destruction and displacement.