Egypt imposes 3-hour no-fly zone over Tehran Thursday morning

Aug. 7 (UPI) -- Egyptian officials warned airlines to avoid flying over Tehran during a three-hour period Thursday morning due to military exercises, though observers fear a possible military retaliation against Israel could be possible then after the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh .

"All Egyptian carriers shall avoid overflying Tehran,"an Egyptian governmental safety notice issued to Egyptian pilots says. "No flight plan will be accepted overflying such territory."

The three-hour period is early Thursday morning from 4:30 to 7:30 a.m. local time in anticipation of what could be a massed rocket attack on Israel by Iran and possibly Hezbollah in Lebanon .

Jordanian officials on Sunday asked all airlines landing at its airports to carry extra fuel to enable 45 more minutes of flight.

An Iranian notice issued Wednesday said Iran would conduct "live-fire exercises with missiles and other weaponry" until 8:30 a.m. local time Thursday. Such exercises also were planned Wednesday.

Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri Khan said Iran will strike back at Israel for assassinating Haniyeh in Tehran on July 31.

Israel claimed responsibility for planting a bomb in a hotel room and using it to kill Haniyeh after he returned from attending the funeral of former Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi.

Many airlines have changed their normal flight schedules to avoid flying to Israel or Lebanaon and avoid Iranian and Lebanese air space due to rising tensions and hostilities between Israel, Lebanon-based Hezbollah and Iran.

Israel also killed Hezbollah leader Fuad Shukr in retaliation for a rocket attack on a Druze village in the Golan Heights that killed 12 children and teens on July 27.