An airport in Germany has cancelled all flights after a threat was “emailed in”.
Flights to and from Hamburg Airport were suspended on Monday after authorities received a threat to a plane that arrived from Iran, officials said. The airport said that there had been no takeoffs or landings at the airport since 12:40pm (10:40am GMT), German news agency dpa reported. Some arriving flights were diverted to Hannover among other places. Operations resumed later, though the airport warned on its website that delays were still possible.
Police said they received an emailed threat on Monday morning of an attack on the Tehran-Hamburg flight and were taking it seriously, though they didn’t give details. The plane landed in Hamburg at about 12:20pm. The 198 passengers and 16 crew members were undergoing a security check, and the aircraft and luggage on board were being searched, but hours later the searches had not produced any evidence to support the threat’s credibility.
The German air force said that it escorted the plane after it entered German airspace east due to a bomb threat.
Following the aircraft’s arrival in Hamburg around 12:20 p.m., the 198 passengers and 16 crew members underwent security screening, and the plane and its cargo were subjected to a thorough search.
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At this point, there is no available information regarding the results of these security checks.
This incident occurred on the inaugural day of a special gathering between the German and French governments in Hamburg, where both Chancellor Olaf Scholz and President Emmanuel Macron were in attendance.
The threat comes after Palestinian militant organisation Hamas waged war on Israel by breaching its border, abducting and killing civilians in its most ambitious operation in a generation. The Iranian regime is a known supporter of Hamas, with recent reports alleging they gave the green light for the attack.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry Spokesman, Nasser Kanani, has told reporters that claims that Iran had a role in Hamas’ assault on Israel are not true. British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak also said today he would not speculate on the suggestion that Iran may be linked to attacks in Israel. He said on a visit to a business in Nottinghamshire: “With regard to Iran, I’m not going to speculate on the origins of all of this. There will be time for that in due course.”
On Sunday, a spokesperson for Hamas told the BBC that it hadn’t received support from Iran, as well as other unnamed sources, for the attack. Kanani said: “The accusations linked to an Iranian role… are based on political reasons.” Palestinians had “the necessary capacity and will to defend their nation and recover their rights” without any help from Tehran, Kanani added.
