Due to a bomb threat against an aircraft that took off from Tehran, flight operations at Hamburg Airport had to be temporarily suspended on Monday, October 9, 2023. This measure was ordered by the responsible Federal Police Directorate in accordance with the “Safety First” principle.

The executive branch's media office initially said that a bomb threat against a flight on the Tehran-Hamburg route had been received by email. For security reasons, police measures were taken immediately. This includes that operations at Hamburg Airport had to be suspended at 12:40 p.m. Take-offs and landings were no longer possible.

The threat was directed against Iran Air flight IR723. The Airbus A330-200 with the registration EP-IJB landed safely in Hamburg at 24:12 local time, according to Flightradar38. The long-haul aircraft was then guided into an area secured and shielded by the federal police.

According to official information, there were 198 passengers and 16 crew members on board. All were carefully checked and examined by the federal police. All luggage and other items were also meticulously examined. The aircraft itself was searched by explosives experts, also with the support of specially trained sniffer dogs. Luckily nothing was found, so the executive was able to give the all-clear after around two hours. Flight operations then resumed.

The German police now want to investigate the perpetrator of the bomb threat, which fortunately turned out to be a “fake” and, if necessary, take criminal action. The incident comes at an extremely sensitive time, as Iran not only reacted happily to Hamas' brutal military attack against Israel, but also followed up with vile threats. It is completely unclear whether the alleged bomb threat has any connection to the current situation in Israel and the speculation by numerous politicians that Hamas launched the attack as a kind of puppet of Iran. In any case, all passengers, crew members and the aircraft remained undamaged in Hamburg.