NEW DELHI (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 05th January, 2020) New Delhi has urged Indian airlines to avoid Iranian airspace if possible amid the escalation of tensions between Washington and Tehran following a US drone attack that killed Qasem Soleimani, the head of Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' (IRGC) elite Quds Force, Indian media reported on Sunday.
According to the Economic Times newspaper, the Indian government asked airlines to change the routes of their flights to and from Europe and the US, which almost exclusively use Iranian airspace.
The newspaper cited an unnamed source inside India's flag carrier, Air India, who said that despite the advisory, there are no current plans to change flight routes at present.
A similar advisory was issued by the Indian government in the wake of Iran's downing of a US military drone in the Strait of Hormuz in June. At that time, the advisory was limited only to the oversea areas of Iranian airspace in the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman.
In the early hours of Friday, Soleimani and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the deputy commander of an Iraqi Shia militia group, were among those killed by a US drone attack near Baghdad International Airport. Soleimani and al-Muhandis were blamed by Washington for organizing demonstrations at the US Embassy in Baghdad on December 31.
US President Donald Trump said the recent strikes were a preemptive, defensive move to prevent war. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has warned that Tehran will take revenge for what it views to be a heinous crime.
