Iran closes airspace as planes divert around country | World | News

Flight-tracking website FlightRadar24.com said in a post on X, “NOTAM just issued by Iran closing airspace to all flights except international flights to/from Iran with permission. NOTAM is valid for a little more than 2 hours.”

A live map from Flightradar24.com showed no planes detected in Iranian airspace shortly before 4am local time.

Protests erupted on the streets of Iran in December of the country’s ailing economy, but quickly shifted to oust the Mullah regime that has ruled with an iron fist since 1979. Images of the protests show the capital Tehran painted with graffiti and while reports say protesters have been chanting for the death of 86-year-old supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Protesters have turned out even as armed forces met them with brutality. Outlets have reported that videos showed body bags lined up at morgues in the capital.

The death toll from the nationwide protests climbed to at least 2,571 early on Wednesday, January 14, the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency reported, while more than 18,100 people are reported to have been detained.

These figure are widely believed to be conservative and could rise rapidly if Iran goes ahead with protester executions.

The planned executions quickly caught the eye of US President Donald Trump, who has warned Iran against using violence on protesters.

Trump and top Iranian officials have exchanged threats amid the ongoing protests, further escalating tensions between the countries.

While the US president had warned of a response to the killing of protesters he did not specify what action he would take.

Trump wrote in a post on his Truth Social platform that if Iran “violently kills peaceful protesters,” the United States “will come to their rescue.”

“We are locked and loaded and ready to go,” Trump wrote, without elaborating.

Trump previously told Iranians citizens that “HELP IS ON ITS WAY.”