Without warning or explanation, Iran suddenly shuttered its skies to commercial aircraft in the pre-dawn hours of Thursday, cutting off a crucial aviation corridor connecting East and West. The abrupt four-hour closure—the kind of dramatic gesture typically reserved for moments when military conflict looms—rippled instantly across global aviation networks, forcing international carriers to reroute around the country's borders.
The move came at a flash point of escalating tensions between Tehran and Washington, as the United States bristled over Iran's brutal crackdown on nationwide protests that has now claimed an estimated 2,615 lives.
