EU warns flights to stay out of Iran's airspace amid simmering tensions over US intervention
The EU's Aviation Safety Agency said in a bulletin on Friday that the deadly crackdown on protests had created a "high-risk" atmosphere in the region.They said: "The presence and possible use of a wide range of weapons and air-defence systems, combined with unpredictable state responses ... creates a high risk to civil flights operating at all altitudes and flight levels."Iran reopened its airspace on Wednesday after a near-five-hour closure amid concerns about possible military action that forced airlines to cancel, reroute or delay some flights.But US forces are reportedly on their way to the region despite claims of a climbdown from the brink of military action.America’s USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier is ferrying fighter jets, guided missile destroyers, and at least one attack submarine.The carrier and its strike group was seen moving west to the Indo-Pacific region, images from a satellite data company Copernicus revealed.It is due to arrive in Iran in a week’s time, sources say, after the Pentagon confirmed it is moving the carrier strike group from the South China Sea towards the Middle East.The US has diverted an aircraft carrier and its strike group towards Iran as Donald Trump mulls over intervening in the country's deadly protests.Officials say the extra forces will bolster deterrence and ensure US troops are ready for action if Iran targets American assets or its allies. It comes after Donald Trump warned he could take “very strong” in Iran amid the regime’s deadly crackdown on protests.Read more: Iran cancels 800 executions after Trump threats, White House claimsRead more: Iran postpones execution of first protester as regime closes airspace amid fears of US strikesThe theocratic dictatorship admitted earlier this week that at least 2,000 people have been killed by authorities as the huge wave of unrest grips the nation.The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency said the death toll has climbed to more than 2,600.Opposition groups earlier this week claimed that as many as 12,000 have lost their lives as a result of the lethal repression.Mr Trump appeared to soften his rhetoric against the regime after he claimed that Iran has “stopped” executions - halting 800 executions that had been scheduled.But the Trump Administration is still warning of “grave consequences” if it continues to kill protesters.“The president and his team have communicated to the Iranian regime that if the killing continues, there will be grave consequences,” press secretary Karoline Leavitt said this week.Trump's envoy to the UN, Mike Waltz, said that “all options are on the table” during an emergency Security Council meeting to discuss Iran.He dismissed Iran's claims that the protests are "a foreign plot to give a precursor to military action”.“Everyone in the world needs to know that the regime is weaker than ever before, and therefore is putting forward this lie because of the power of the Iranian people in the streets. They are afraid. They're afraid of their own people," Mr Walz said.The UN warned in the meeting that strikes on Iran could add to the "volatility to an already combustible situation". UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres urges "maximum restraint at this sensitive moment," and is calling on all actors to refrain from any actions that could lead to further loss of life or ignite a wider regional escalation," assistant secretary-general Martha Pobee said.
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