U.S. State Department urges Americans to leave Iran after airspace reopening

WASHINGTON, April 22 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. State Department on Wednesday urged U.S. citizens in Iran to leave after the Middle East country partially reopened its airspace.

In a social media post, the State Department's Bureau of Consular Affairs urged Americans to monitor local media for updates closely and to contact commercial airlines for information about outbound flights.

The advisory noted that U.S. citizens may also depart by land to Armenia, Azerbaijan, Türkiye and Turkmenistan. However, it warned against traveling to Afghanistan, Iraq or the Pakistan-Iran border area.

Iran shut down its airspace after joint U.S.-Israeli strikes started on Feb. 28.

The country reopened its eastern airspace to international flights on Saturday, paving the way for the partial resumption of airport operations.

In a report on Sunday, the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting quoted a senior official from Iran's Civil Aviation Organization as saying that the country's airspace would be reopened in four phases.