Flights suspended at Iranian airports until Monday morning

TEHRAN

Flight service to airports in Iran will be suspended from Sunday evening until Monday morning, the Iranian Civil Aviation Authority said Sunday.

According to Iran’s semi-official Mehr news agency, an unnamed spokesman for the authority made the announcement amid growing speculation about an Israeli strike on Iranian targets.

The agency reported that flights will be suspended at all airports in Iran from 9 p.m. local time (1700GMT) until 6 a.m. (0200GMT) on Monday.

On Sunday, an Iranian security official, who requested anonymity, confirmed that the country expects any potential Israeli response to Iran to be limited.

"We do not expect Israel to target any significant and strategic political, military, or economic center,” he stated.

Following Iranian missile attacks on Israel on Oct. 1, Tel Aviv threatened to launch a "very strong" retaliatory strike on Iran.

On Tuesday, Israel said that Iran had launched about 180 missiles at it, in an attack that Tehran described as "retaliation" for the assassinations of Hamas’ Ismail Haniyeh, Hezbollah’s Hassan Nasrallah, and Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Commander Abbas Nilforoushan.

*Writing by Rania Abu Shamala​​​​​​​