Tehran: Iran has reopened sections of its airspace in the central and western regions to facilitate international flights, according to the country's Roads and Urban Development Ministry.
The move was approved by the Civil Aviation Organisation (CAO) of Iran after relevant authorities completed their security and safety assessments, ministry spokesperson Majid Akhavan said in a statement.
He added the country had earlier reopened its eastern airspace to domestic, international, and transit flights, noting that no aircraft would be allowed to land in or depart from Iran's airports located in the northern, southern, and western parts.
In a separate statement, the CAO confirmed that the airspace over the northern, southern, and western areas would remain closed until 14:00 local time (1030 GMT) on Sunday.
Iran had shut down its airspace on June 13 in the wake of Israeli airstrikes targeting Tehran and other regions. The development followed a 12-day aerial conflict that ended with a ceasefire between the two nations on Tuesday.
According to the Xinhua news agency, the ministry had earlier declared the reopening of eastern airspace on Wednesday night, aiming to gradually resume air traffic to pre-conflict levels.
"In view of the reopening of Iran's eastern airspace to domestic and international flights, the country's airspace in the northern, southern and western parts will remain closed until 14:00 local time on Friday (1030 GMT)," IRIB quoted Spokesman of Iran's Roads and Urban Development Ministry Majid Akhavan as saying.
Earlier, the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) announced that its 12-day military operation against Iran had caused significant damage to three of Iran’s major nuclear facilities—Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan—marking a substantial setback to the country's nuclear programme.
The IDF asserted that Israel launched ‘Operation Rising Lion’ on June 13 intending to damage the Iranian nuclear and missile projects following the identification of progress in the three programmes whose ultimate goal was to “destroy the State of Israel”.
(inputs from IANS)