The Department of Civil Aviation Affairs (BhCAA) in the Bahraini Ministry of Transportation has announced the termination of all flights between the Gulf state and Iran effective immediately.
The BhCAA said in a statement that government's recent decision to sever diplomatic ties with Iran had precipitated the move with Gulf Air (GF, Bahrain International), IranAir (IR, Tehran Mehrabad) and Zagros Airlines (Iran) (IZG, Abadan) now directed to end their respective services forthwith.
According to the ch-aviation route database, Gulf Air served Mashad, Shiraz, and Tehran Imam Khomeini in Iran while Iran Air, through Bukovyna Airlines (BKV, Chernivtsi), and Zagros Airlines (Iran) offered flights to Mashad.
The announcement comes two days after Saudi Arabia formally cut all diplomatic and air links with Iran following invasions of its diplomatic missions in Tehran and Mashad this past weekend. The fracas started when large mobs in Iran reacted angrily to Riyadh's execution of Shia cleric Nimr al-Nimr on Saturday on the grounds of terrorist-related activities.
Aside from Bahrain, Sudan has also severed diplomatic ties with Tehran while Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates have downgraded theirs.
For its part, Bahrain has had a fraught relationship with Iran owing to the Gulf state's skewed population dynamics wherein a Sunni Muslim minority rules a Shia Muslim minority.
In 2011, Bahrain ceased all flights to Iran and Iraq for a period of seventeen months after Shia leaders there criticized Manama's bloody crackdown on Shia-led pro-democracy protests during the Arab Spring uprisings.
