Switzerland refused the overflight of its territory by American military planes, invoking its neutrality
Switzerland announced on Saturday, for the first time since the beginning of the conflict in the Middle East, that it had rejected two requests by the United States to fly over its territory, citing the “right to neutrality”.
The Americans have submitted several requests in this regard, especially for military aircraft, the Swiss government said in a statement, according to News.ro.
“In total, two requests related to the war in Iran have been rejected,” he said, adding that he reviewed all the requests submitted by Washington on Saturday.
The rejected requests “each referred to a reconnaissance plane” for a passage on March 15 into Swiss airspace. Instead, the government approved, among other things, a maintenance flight.
The Swiss government explains that “the United States and Israel are at war with Iran”, therefore “the right to neutrality applies”. It emphasizes that “the right to neutrality prohibits overflights by parties involved in a conflict for military purposes related to that conflict.” Instead, “flights for humanitarian or medical purposes, including the transport of the wounded, as well as overflights that have nothing to do with the conflict” are authorized.
