On Thursday, Iran seemed to reopen its airspace following a sudden overnight closure that had disrupted flights throughout the region, even as the country was facing heightened security warnings and ongoing regional tensions.
According to the aviation risk – monitoring site Safe Airspace, the overnight closure lasted approximately five hours after a Notice to Air Missions, or NOTAM.
Safe Airspace cautions that the primary danger for civil aircraft in Iranian airspace during periods of heightened tensions is misidentification by air defense systems, currently rating the overall risk level as “One — Do Not Fly.”
On Wednesday, the President told reporters in the Oval Office that he had been informed that the killing of protesters in Iran was “stopping.”
“We’ve received a very strong notification, but we’ll figure out what it all means. However, we’ve been told that the killing in Iran is coming to a halt,” he stated.
Sen. , R – S.C., disagreed with Trump, posting on X that every sign he had seen indicated that the Iranian regime’s killing of anti – government protesters was “still going on full – throttle.”
“The death toll is rising every hour. Hoping that help is on the way,” he wrote.
The U.S. – based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), which monitors human rights violations in Iran, said on Wednesday that nationwide protests had continued into the 18th day while the authorities maintained an almost complete internet shutdown.
The group’s combined data showed 617 protest gatherings in 187 cities across the country, the arrest of at least 18,470 people, and the confirmed deaths of 2,615 individuals.
HRANA reported that 2,435 of those killed were protesters, including 13 children under the age of 18.
Trump has taken action, warning Tehran in several Truth Social posts to stop killing its people.
“We are fully prepared and ready to act,” he wrote on New Year’s Day.
On Tuesday, the president said that he had canceled all meetings with Iranian officials and urged protesters to “TAKE OVER YOUR INSTITUTIONS!!!”
“Remember the names of the killers and abusers. They will pay a heavy price,” Trump wrote, adding, “HELP IS ON ITS WAY.”