Lufthansa Says Canceling Tehran Flights due to Security Uncertainty

Planes stand on the tarmac during a pilots strike of German airline Lufthansa at Frankfurt airport, Germany, November 23, 2016. (Reuters)
Planes stand on the tarmac during a pilots strike of German airline Lufthansa at Frankfurt airport, Germany, November 23, 2016. (Reuters)
TT
20

Lufthansa Says Canceling Tehran Flights due to Security Uncertainty

Planes stand on the tarmac during a pilots strike of German airline Lufthansa at Frankfurt airport, Germany, November 23, 2016. (Reuters)
Planes stand on the tarmac during a pilots strike of German airline Lufthansa at Frankfurt airport, Germany, November 23, 2016. (Reuters)

Germany's flagship carrier Lufthansa said on Friday that its group airlines were canceling flights to and from Tehran until Jan. 20 inclusive due to the uncertain security situation of the airspace around the Iranian capital.

Lufthansa said the move was a "precautionary measure" and it would decide if and when its flights to Iran would resume when it had more information.

US officials said on Thursday that the government believed Iran accidentally shot down a Ukrainian airliner shortly after Iran fired missiles at two US military bases in Iraq, while Iran was on high alert.

Iran has denied the allegations.

All 176 people on board the jetliner were killed.

A US official, citing satellite data, said Washington had concluded with a high degree of certainty that anti-aircraft missiles brought down the plane in error.

The official said the data showed the plane airborne for two minutes after departing Tehran when heat signatures of two surface-to-air missiles were detected. There was an explosion in the vicinity and heat data showed the plane on fire as it fell.

US military satellites detect infrared emissions from heat.

US President Donald Trump said he believed "somebody could have made a mistake".



Ali Larijani Reappointed Secretary of Iran’s Top Security Body

Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani gives a press conference in Tehran, Iran, December 1, 2019 (AP)
Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani gives a press conference in Tehran, Iran, December 1, 2019 (AP)
TT
20

Ali Larijani Reappointed Secretary of Iran’s Top Security Body

Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani gives a press conference in Tehran, Iran, December 1, 2019 (AP)
Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani gives a press conference in Tehran, Iran, December 1, 2019 (AP)

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has appointed Ali Larijani, a senior adviser to the supreme leader, as secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, the semi-official Fars news agency reported on Tuesday.

The appointment takes place amid institutional changes following a 12-day air war with Israel in June, the country's most severe security challenge since a war with Saddam Hussein's Iraq in the 1980s.

A former member of the Revolutionary Guards, Larijani held the same top security position from 2005 to 2007 and was parliamentary speaker from 2008 to 2020. He now replaces Ali Akbar Ahmadian, who had become SNSC secretary in 2023.

On Sunday, Iran revived an Iraq war-era Defense Council to review defense plans and enhance the capabilities of its armed forces in a centralized manner.

Both the Defense Council and the SNSC are headed by Iran's president.