Tehran accuses US of trying to reinterpret war-ending MoU

Earlier on Wednesday, Mehr News Agency reported under the headline “Lufthansa returns to Iran” that a Lufthansa Group representative met Ramin Kashef-Azar, chairman and chief executive of Imam Khomeini Airport City, to discuss restoring flights and developing new routes.

The Iranian report said the representative had expressed interest by Lufthansa Group airlines, including Eurowings, Austrian Airlines and ITA Airways, in resuming flights to Iran. It also said Austrian Airlines would likely restart earlier than others and that Lufthansa was reviewing Iran flights for its winter schedule.

But in a written response to Iran International’s Germany correspondent Ahmad Samadi, Lufthansa described the meeting as a customary exchange and made clear that no return decision had been announced.

“The airlines of the Lufthansa Group have suspended all flights to and from Tehran up to and including October 24th, 2026,” the company said.

“We can confirm that a meeting with local representatives recently took place. Such exchanges are customary and form part of our ongoing assessment of operational and regulatory conditions,” Lufthansa added.

The company said any return to Iran would depend on a wider security review.

“Any decision regarding a resumption of services to Iran will be subject to a comprehensive security assessment and ongoing evaluation of the operational environment,” Lufthansa said. “The safety and security of our passengers and crews remain our highest priority.”

Lufthansa’s response did not confirm any restart date, winter schedule plan or specific return by any of its group airlines, sharply contrasting with the Iranian framing of the meeting as a sign of imminent normalization.

The exchange shows Tehran’s attempt to present routine aviation contacts as evidence that foreign carriers are returning after the war, while major airlines remain publicly cautious about security and operating conditions in Iran.

President Donald Trump said the war was going “very well” and added that Iran was making “very big concessions,” as he arrived on Capitol Hill for lunch with Senate Republicans on Wednesday.

“The war is going very well,” Trump said. “As you know, we’re winning by a lot. Iran is making very big concessions. We’ll see what happens – but it has been very, very, very powerful.”

The remarks were Trump’s latest effort to present the US campaign and subsequent talks with Tehran as a show of American leverage, as Washington and Iran continue to dispute the meaning and implementation of the US-Iran memorandum.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the United States would not do anything to undermine the security of its Persian Gulf allies when it comes to dealings with Iran and insisted that the Strait of Hormuz must remain “open and free.”

Rubio made the remarks during a visit to Kuwait City, where he met Kuwait Crown Prince Sheikh Sabah Khaled Al-Hamad Al Sabah as Washington seeks to reassure regional allies after the Iran war and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.

Rubio added that a technical group on Iran would reconvene later this month.

His comments come as the US-Iran memorandum has reopened commercial movement through Hormuz but left disputes over how the waterway will be managed, including Iranian claims of authority over permissions and future fees.

Bahrain has imposed strict limits on Ashura commemorations, the New York Times reported, in the latest measure targeting public Shiite religious activity amid heightened tensions after the Iran war.

The Sunni-ruled Persian Gulf state, where most citizens are Twelver Shiites, ordered this year’s Ashura observances to be cut from the usual 10 days to five and said processions must end by midnight, except in Manama, where they may continue until 2 a.m. In previous years, public processions often continued until dawn.

Bahrain has also barred citizens from traveling to Iran and Iraq until further notice, a move that affects thousands of Bahrainis who usually travel during this period to Karbala, one of Shiite Islam’s holiest cities.

The New York Times said the measures come after Bahrain, a close US ally that hosts the headquarters of the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet, faced hundreds of Iranian drone and missile attacks during the recent war.

Bahrain has long accused Iran of trying to stir unrest among its Shiite population and has taken a hard line against dissent, including the violent suppression of a pro-democracy uprising in 2011.

Italy sought to distance itself from the US war against Iran, saying American aircraft used bases on Italian soil only for “technical and logistical, non-kinetic” support and not for direct combat operations.

The clarification came after NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte told Fox News that 500 US planes had taken off from American bases in Italy to support Operation Epic Fury, Washington’s name for the war it launched alongside Israel against Iran.

Rome has repeatedly said it did not authorize Italian territory to be used for direct military action against Iran, a distinction that has become politically sensitive as European governments face questions over how far they helped the US campaign.

“As already clarified in parliament, the government authorized exclusively technical and logistical, non-kinetic activities,” Defense Minister Guido Crosetto said, adding that Italy had refused requests that went beyond those limits.

Crosetto said Rutte, who he said had “nothing to do with Operation Epic Fury,” had sent a “totally misleading message” by blurring the line between authorized support flights and combat-related operations.

A NATO official said Rutte had only referred to allies, including Italy, carrying out existing bilateral agreements on basing and overflights.

The dispute adds to tension between Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s government and President Donald Trump after Rome refused to support the US military campaign against Iran. Italy hosts about 120 US military facilities, including the Sigonella naval air station in Sicily and Aviano air base in northern Italy.

Opposition leaders demanded new explanations from the government, with former prime minister Giuseppe Conte calling for Meloni to clarify the matter in parliament.