United halts flights on Newark-Mumbai route after Iran shoots down US drone

United Airlines has suspended its service between Newark and Mumbai, a route that regularly flies through Iranian airspace, after Iran shot down a U.S. military drone and as tensions between the two countries continue to escalate.

“Given current events in Iran, United has conducted a thorough safety and security review of our India service through Iranian airspace and decided to suspend our service between New York/Newark and India (Mumbai) beginning this evening,” United said in an emailed statement.

The FAA issued a flight restriction for Iranian airspace, spokeswoman Lynn Lunsford said. Delta Air Lines nor American Airlines currently fly through Iranian airspace, Reuters had earlier reported.

US and Iranian officials have differing accounts of whether the high-altitude US Navy drone was over international or Iranian waters when it was shot down. The downing comes after weeks of rising tensions, including attacks on cargo ships that the US has also blamed on Iran.

Though an Iranian military officer was quoted by state-run media as saying the drone was shot down in order to send a “clear message,” President Donald Trump downplayed the incident. 

While Trump’s first public reaction was to say on Twitter that Iran “made a very big mistake,” later at the White House he said he found it “hard to believe it was intentional. It could have been somebody who was loose and stupid.”