Iran denies plans for military retaliation over recent air restrictions

TEHRAN -- The Secretariat of Iran's Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) denied in a statement on Saturday that Iran would take military retaliatory action in response to the recent aviation restrictions imposed on the country, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported.

The SNSC issued the statement in response to certain "misleading" interpretations and quotes from recent remarks by its Secretary Mohsen Rezaei regarding the air transport issue, which have given rise to questions and ambiguities.

It said the claim that Iran would resort to military retaliation in response to recent aviation restrictions was rejected, adding that negotiations with relevant countries were being pursued seriously to remove certain "illegal" aviation restrictions.

The SNSC underlined that there were numerous non-military ways to retaliate against those complying with the restrictions, which could be applied to certain airports if necessary, while expressing hope that the situation would not reach that point.

On Monday, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that "all the Iranian airlines will be shut down around the world" from Wednesday, threatening to impose secondary sanctions on companies that provide them with aviation services.

He told broadcaster CNBC that when Iranian carriers land at an airport, "you cannot provide them with fuel, you cannot provide them with landing services, you cannot sell them tickets, or you will be knocked out of the dollar system."

In an interview with state-run IRIB TV on Wednesday hours after the U.S. sanctions on Iranian airlines took effect, Rezaei called on countries, especially Iran's neighbors, not to join the US "adventurism" as it would soon be doomed to failure.