Uzbekistan flights forced to return due to closure of Iranian airspace

Uzbekistan-bound flights were forced to return to their departure airports after Iran closed its airspace to all aircraft, Uzbekistan Airports reported.

The restrictions came into force at 00:45 Tashkent time on January 15 and were initially expected to remain in place until 8:00 a.m. the same day. However, according to available information, the ban is still in effect.

According to Uzbekistan Airports, the following flights that were scheduled to pass through Iranian airspace were forced to return to their departure airports:

Fly One Asia flight 7Q7742 operating on the Medina–Tashkent route returned to Medina Airport.

Jazeera Airways flight J9650 on the Tashkent–Kuwait route departed Tashkent at 02:01 local time but later returned to Tashkent Airport.

Sam Air flight 9C3303 operating on the Samarkand–Jeddah route took off from Samarkand at 02:04 local time and subsequently returned to Samarkand Airport.

Fly Khiva flight 2U7911 on the Urgench–Medina route departed Urgench at 02:17 local time before returning to Urgench Airport.

In addition, Uzbekistan Airways flight HY336 operating on the Jeddah–Tashkent route was also forced to return to Jeddah Airport due to the closure of Iranian airspace.

It is worth noting that on January 14, Reuters reported, citing a European official, that the United States could carry out a strike on Iran within the next 24 hours. Following these reports, Iran moved to close its airspace.

It should be recalled that earlier reports said that at least 12,000 people, and possibly more, had died as a result of ongoing protests in Iran.