Iran has confirmed that dozens of aircraft were relocated to airports outside the country during the war as part of a broader effort to protect the nation’s civilian aviation fleet and infrastructure from potential military strikes.

Abouzar Shiroudi, head of Iran’s Civil Aviation Organization, said Iranian authorities implemented a plan that included the transfer of 36 aircraft to airports outside Iran. He did not disclose how many aircraft were ultimately moved, nor did he identify the countries or airports that received them.

According to Shiroudi, the relocation effort was part of a wider strategy aimed at reducing risks to Iran’s civil aviation sector amid military operations targeting the country.

The disclosure follows a May 2026 report by CBS, citing U.S. officials, that several Iranian aircraft were stationed at a Pakistani Air Force base during the conflict. According to that report, the aircraft’s presence in Pakistan provided a degree of protection from potential attacks.

Shiroudi also revealed that the operation included 133 separate aircraft transfers from Tehran’s Imam Khomeini and Mehrabad airports to locations considered safer, making it one of the largest internal civilian aircraft relocation efforts in Iran in recent decades.

The development has drawn comparisons to the 1991 Gulf War, when Iraq transferred dozens of military aircraft to Iran to avoid destruction during coalition airstrikes. Iran later retained most of those aircraft, arguing they constituted compensation related to the Iran-Iraq War, despite repeated Iraqi requests for their return.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)