Airports close across the Mideast as the Israel-Iran conflict shutters the region's airspace

BEIRUT (AP) — After Israeli strikes landed near the hotel where he was staying in the Iranian province of Qom, Aimal Hussein desperately wanted to return home. But the 55-year-old Afghan businessman couldn't find a way, with Iranian airspace completely shut down.

He fled to Tehran after the strike Sunday, but no taxi would take him to the border as the conflict between Iran and Israel intensified.

“Flights, markets, everything is closed, and I am living in the basement of a small hotel,” Hussein told The Associated Press by cellphone on Monday. "I am trying to get to the border by taxi, but they are hard to find, and no one is taking us.”

Israel launched a major attack Friday with strikes in the Iranian capital of Tehran and elsewhere, killing senior military officials, nuclear scientists, and destroying critical infrastructure. Among the targets was a nuclear enrichment facility about 18 miles from Qom. Iran has retaliated with hundreds of drones and missiles.

The dayslong attacks between the two bitter enemies have opened a new chapter in their turbulent recent history. Many in the region fear a wider conflict as they watch waves of attacks across their skies every night.

The conflict has forced most countries in the Middle East to close their airspace. Dozens of airports have stopped all flights or severely reduced operations, leaving tens of thousands of passengers stranded and others unable to flee the conflict or travel home.

“The domino effect here is massive,” said retired pilot and aviation safety expert John Cox, who said the disruptions will have a huge price tag.

“You’ve got thousands of passengers suddenly that are not where they’re supposed to be, crews that are not where they are supposed to be, airplanes that are not where they’re supposed to be,” he said.

Zvika Berg was on an El Al flight to Israel from New York when an unexpected message came from the pilot as they began their descent: “Sorry, we’ve been rerouted to Larnaca.” The 50-year-old Berg saw other Israel-bound El Al flights from Berlin and elsewhere landing at the airport in Cyprus. Now he’s waiting at a Larnaca hotel while speaking to his wife in Jerusalem. “I’m debating what to do,” Berg said.

Israel has closed its main international Ben Gurion Airport “until further notice,” leaving more than 50,000 Israeli travelers stranded abroad. The jets of the country’s three airlines have been moved to Larnaca.

In Israel, Mahla Finkleman was stuck in a Tel Aviv hotel after her Air Canada flight was canceled, trying to reassure her worried family back home while she shelters in the hotel's underground bunker during waves of overnight Iranian attacks.

“We hear the booms. Sometimes there's shaking,” she said. “The truth, I think it’s even scarier … to see from TV what happened above our heads while we were underneath in a bomb shelter.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office warned Israelis not to flee the country through any of the three crossings with Jordan and Egypt that are open to the Israeli public. Despite having diplomatic ties with Israel, the statement said those countries are considered a “high risk of threat” to Israeli travelers.

Iran on Friday suspended flights to and from the country's main Khomeini International Airport on the outskirts of Tehran. Israel said Saturday that it bombed Mehrabad Airport in an early attack, a facility in Tehran for Iran's air force and domestic commercial flights.

Arsalan Ahmed is one of thousands of Indian university students stuck in Iran, with no way out. The medical student and other students in Tehran are not leaving the hostels where they live, horrified by the attacks with no idea of when they'll find safety.

“It is very scary what we watch on television,” Ahmed said. “But scarier are some of the deafening explosions.” Universities have helped relocate many students to safer places in Iran, but the Indian government has not yet issued an evacuation plan for them.

Though airspace is still partially open in Lebanon and Jordan, the situation is chaotic at airports, with many passengers stranded locally and abroad with delayed and canceled flights even as the busy summer tourism season begins. Many airlines have reduced flights or stopped them altogether, and authorities have closed airports overnight when attacks are at their most intense. Syria, under new leadership, had just renovated its battered airports and begun restoring diplomatic ties when the conflict began.

Neighboring Iraq’s airports have all closed due to its close proximity to Iran. Israel reportedly used Iraqi airspace, in part, to launch its strikes on Iran, while Iranian drones and missiles flying the other way have been downed over Iraq. Baghdad has reached a deal with Turkey that would allow Iraqis abroad to travel to Turkey — if they can afford it — and return home overland through their shared border.

Some Iraqis stranded in Iran opted to leave by land. College student Yahia al-Suraifi was studying in the northwestern Iranian city of Tabriz, where Israel bombed the airport and an oil refinery over the weekend.

Al-Suraifi and dozens of other Iraqi students pooled together their money to pay taxi drivers to drive 200 miles (320 kilometers) overnight to the border with northern Iraq with drones and airstrikes around them.

“It looked like fireworks in the night sky,” al-Suraifi said. “I was very scared.”

By the time they reached the northern Iraqi city of Irbil, it was another 440 miles (710 kilometers) to get to his hometown of Nasiriyah in southern Iraq.

Back in Tehran, Hussein said the conflict brought back bitter memories of 20 years of war back home in Afghanistan.

“This is the second time I have been trapped in such a difficult war and situation," he said, "once in Kabul and now in Iran.”

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Abdul-Zahra reported from Baghdad. Associated Press journalists Riazat Butt in Islamabad, Moshe Edri in Tel Aviv, Israel; Aijaz Hussain Srinagar, India; Menelaos Hadjicostis in Nicosia, Cyprus, and Adam Suderman in Richmond, Virginia, contributed to this report.

Israel's national airline El AL aircraft is seen next to the control tower at Cyprus' main airport in Larnaca, Saturday, June 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias)

An aircraft belonging to Israeli airlines El Al sit parked in the tarmac of Cyprus' main airport in Larnaca, Saturday, June 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias)

A row of aircrafts belonging to Israeli airlines El Al, Arkia, Israir sit parked in a row along the apron of Cyprus' main airport in Larnaca, Saturday, June 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias)

Remnants of a missile fallen on a field between Najaf and Karbala, Iraq, Friday, June 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Anmar Khalil)

Few pedestrians walk along the historic Grand Bazaar as most shops remain shuttered, in Tehran, Iran, Monday, June 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

A row of aircrafts belonging to Israeli airlines El Al sit parked along the apron of Cyprus' main airport in Larnaca, Saturday, June 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias)

Israel's Ben Gurion Airport is empty of passengers following an Israeli military strike on Iran, in Lod, near Tel Aviv, Israel, Friday, June 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

Huge smoke rises up from an oil facility facility after it appeared to have been hit by an Israeli strike Saturday, in southern Tehran, Iran, Sunday, June 15, 2025. (AP Photo)

GREENVILLE, S.C. (AP) — Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette and state Attorney General Alan Wilson advanced to a runoff for the Republican nomination for South Carolina governor, while U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham won his own primary outright Tuesday in his pursuit of a fifth term in November.

President Donald Trump early on gave his endorsement of Graham, a political confidant and regular golfing partner of the president, despite their on-again, off-again relationship. Graham also had secured the support of some leading state Republicans, Sen. Tim Scott and Gov. Henry McMaster, to plow a path to another nomination.

Addressing Trump in his victory speech, Graham said "I’m going to help you change this world and change this country.” He has been outspoken in favor of military action against Iran.

However, Evette only secured a runoff berth in the governor's race a week after garnering Trump's endorsement. She will face Wilson in the June 23 primary. Others in the race included U.S. Reps. Nancy Mace and Ralph Norman. Mace quickly threw her support to Wilson for the upcoming primary.

No Democrat has won a U.S. Senate seat in South Carolina in decades, and Republicans in recent history typically have taken statewide seats by double-digit margins.

When he last ran in 2020, Graham defeated his Democratic opponent by a 10 percentage point margin. This year, he'll face Charleston pediatrician Annie Andrews in November.

Competition among Republicans for Trump’s support seemed more intense than any other facet of the primary campaign.

Even before Evette received the president's endorsement, she frequently featured photos and videos of herself with Trump in campaign materials. She was backed by McMaster, the term-limited outgoing governor, a longstanding ally of Trump whose support telegraphed the president's own.

Mace also wanted Trump's support, and he endorsed her congressional reelection in 2024 even though she criticized his actions of Jan. 6, 2021, when his supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol.

Norman, among the most conservative members of the House and a member of the Freedom Caucus, strongly supported Trump in the president’s first term. But in the 2024 campaign, Norman stumped for former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley instead of Trump.

Rom Reddy, a coastal businessman who has eschewed campaign donations and self-funded his effort, had touted his lack of political experience as an asset, drawing comparisons between Trump and himself.

South Carolina’s other top contest Tuesday saw Graham clinching the Republican nomination without need of a runoff.

Although their relationship has undulated through the years, Graham has remained close with Trump, who fulfilled the senator's longstanding wish for direct confrontation between Washington and Tehran. Graham cheered Trump’s decision to strike nuclear sites last year and recently said he often speaks to the president about the ongoing conflict.

Among Graham's primary foes was Greenville businessman Mark Lynch, who said Graham wasn't conservative enough to represent the state. Calling himself an “America First” candidate, Lynch campaigned as a Trump supporter. However, the president has called him a “lunatic” and a “disaster for the Republican Party."

Democrats haven’t won the governor’s office or a Senate seat in South Carolina for decades.

Andrews, the Charleston pediatrician, ran unsuccessfully against Mace in 2022. Now running for Senate against Graham, she's challenged what she’s characterized as Graham’s waffling positions over the course of his political career.

She is among the Democrats hoping to capitalize on dissatisfaction with Trump this year.

In the governor's race, state Rep. Jermaine Johnson won the Democratic nomination in the South Carolina governor’s race.

Johnson has represented a district in the Columbia area for three terms. Seen as a rising star in the state party, Johnson was tapped to give this year’s Democratic response to McMaster’s state of the state address. McMaster has been in office since Nikki Haley left her term early to join the first Trump administration.

Democrats have not won a general election for governor in South Carolina since 1998, and Republicans have controlled all statewide-elected offices in the state for more than a decade.

This story has been corrected to show Jermaine Johnson won the Democratic nomination outright for South Carolina governor and is not entering a runoff.

Collins reported from Columbia, South Carolina.

Meg Kinnard can be reached at http://x.com/MegKinnardAP

Republican U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham speaks after winning the Republican primary on Tuesday, June 9, 2026, in Columbia, S.C. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Collins)

Republican U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham speaks after winning the Republican primary on Tuesday, June 9, 2026, in Columbia, S.C. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Collins)

South Carolina Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette speaks during the final rally of her GOP primary campaign for governor on Monday, June 8, 2026, in Greer, S.C. (AP Photo/Meg Kinnard)

FILE - U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., takes questions from reporters following a South Carolina gubernatorial GOP candidate debate on April 1, in Newberry, S.C. (AP Photo/Meg Kinnard, File)

FILE - Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette, R-S.C., takes questions from reporters after receiving the endorsement of Gov. Henry McMaster, R-S.C., in the 2026 GOP gubernatorial primary, Feb. 12, 2026, in Columbia, S.C. (AP Photo/Meg Kinnard, File)

FILE - Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., speaks with supporters after filing his reelection paperwork, March 16, 2026, in Columbia, S.C. (AP Photo/Meg Kinnard, File)