The Swiss government discussed, on Saturday, requests submitted by US military and official aircraft to fly over its territory, before deciding to reject two requests and approve three others, based on the requirements of Swiss neutrality law, which restricts air passage in cases of armed conflicts.
The Swiss government clarified, in a statement reported by Reuters, that the neutrality law prohibits the flight of aircraft belonging to parties in the conflict when the purpose is military and directly connected to the war. In contrast, it allows passage for humanitarian or medical purposes, including the transfer of the wounded, in addition to flights unrelated to the conflict. This decision comes at a time when the Middle East region is witnessing a dangerous escalation, after Iran threatened to expand the scope of the war by targeting any facility in the region associated with the United States, following a US bombing that targeted a major energy center. In the same context, US President Donald Trump expected that "many countries" would initiate sending warships to the region. With the conflict entering its third week, Tehran has increased the level of challenge, after US forces bombed military sites on Kharg Island, which is considered a vital artery for exporting about 90 percent of Iranian oil. Since the start of the attacks launched by Israel and the United States on Iran on February 28, the clashes have resulted in the deaths of more than two thousand people, the majority of them inside Iranian territory, and have also caused unprecedented disruption to oil supplies, which has been directly reflected in rising global prices. Trump confirmed that a number of countries will deploy warships to secure the passage of navigation through the Strait of Hormuz, through which about 20 percent of global energy supplies pass, making any tension in it a direct threat to the international economy.
