The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration on Thursday issued an emergency order prohibiting U.S. operators from flying in an overwater area of Iran-controlled airspace over the Strait of Hormuz and the Gulf of Oman due to heightened tensions.
In a separate advisory to operators, FAA said according to flight tracking applications, the nearest civil aircraft was operating within around 45 nautical miles of a U.S. Global Hawk drone when it was shot down by an Iranian surface-to-air missile this week.
Regarding the downing of US drone, Earlier on Thursday, Trump said on Twitter that "Iran made a very big mistake!" by shooting down the U.S. spy drone. Iran said that the aircraft was over its territory, but the U.S. Central Command claimed it was flying in international airspace.
Tensions between Washington and Tehran have been rising since the Trump administration’s decision to withdraw from the 2015 Iran nuclear agreement.
The Iranian Revolution Guards Corps public relations department said in a statement on Thursday that a US spy drone that violated the Iranian territorial airspace in the early hours of Thursday, was fired at by the IRGC Aerospace Force’s air defense unit near the Kooh-e-Mobarak region in the southern province of Hormozgan. (ILKHA)