Iran-U.S. Spat Leaves Mideast Airlines Encircled by Hostile Skies
Source: AFP via Getty Images
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Airlines in the Middle East are used to avoiding trouble spots, but airspace closures spurred by mounting tension between Iran and the U.S. mean they now face diversions whether flying north, south, east or west.
Conflicts in the region had left a legacy of no-fly zones long before the latest flareup between Washington and Tehran. Israeli airlines have been barred from skies above most other Mideast states for decades, while wars in Syria and Yemen mean overflights there are too risky, according to regulators. And rifts between Arab nations have added to the patchwork of no-go areas.