This is confusing. Either the FAA didn’t get the word that the strikes have been called off with a Stand Down order... OR the leaks that revealed the Stand Down order were part of a Misinformation Campaign to confuse the Iranians.
The Iranians expect an attack, they could well launch a SAM swarm that will home on anything flying.
Very tight battle space, jumpy operators.
The High Frequency Skyking radio traffic we’ve seen today is consistent with the assertion that at least SOME sort of strike package was authorized.
“Skyking” is the collective callsign for sending messages to all Single Integrated Operation Plan (SIOP) aircraft and missile Ops which are also responsible for deploying various aircraft.
OR... strikes or not, we are keeping airliners out of a spot where Iran is torching off SAMs yesterday.
This is a precautionary measure to prevent risk to civilian air traffic. Not everything that happens is part of a political chess game.
I’ll take the latter.