The cancellations, which affected routes to the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, and Oman, left hundreds of passengers stranded inside the airport's departure terminals many of whom had arrived hours earlier without any prior notification from their carriers. A small number of flights are expected to depart in the afternoon, though schedules remain subject to change with little warning.

The scenes at Shahjalal Airport on Sunday morning reflected a wider reality playing out across South Asian aviation hubs, as airlines operating in Middle Eastern airspace recalibrate their operations in real time against a conflict whose geographic boundaries are still shifting.

Why Middle East airspace is under pressure

The flight cancellations are a direct downstream consequence of the military situation now unfolding across the region. Following US and Israeli strikes on Iranian territory which targeted sites including the Natanz nuclear facility and command infrastructure Iran's Civil Aviation Organisation issued advisories affecting airspace over Iranian territory. Subsequently, several Gulf states raised their own airspace alert levels as a precautionary measure.

Airlines operating long-haul routes through the Gulf corridor routinely pass through or near Iranian-controlled airspace. With that corridor now carrying elevated risk both from active military operations and from unpredictable Iranian air defense responses carriers have begun rerouting, delaying, or cancelling services rather than assume liability for flights through contested zones.

The situation is not unique to Bangladesh. Flights from India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and the Philippines all countries with large labor migrant populations in the Gulf are reporting similar disruptions. But the impact in Bangladesh carries particular economic weight. An estimated 2.5 million Bangladeshi workers are employed across the Gulf states, many of them on time-sensitive work visas and employment contracts with limited flexibility for delayed return.

The Strait of Hormuz is not simply a shipping lane. Roughly 20 percent of the world's traded oil passes through its 33-kilometre-wide navigable channel. Any sustained interruption even one measured in days carries consequences that would move through global energy markets, supply chains, and the economies of nations that have no direct involvement in the current conflict.

The declaration has not yet been tested by force. But the IRGC's history suggests the announcement is not purely rhetorical.

What the IRGC said and how it was said

The statement, as reported by state broadcaster IRIB, was direct and unqualified. Ships seeking passage through the strait had been told, in the IRGC's framing, that entry was prohibited. No timeframe was attached. No conditions for lifting the restriction were specified.

IRGC naval forces have operated aggressively in the strait before seizing vessels, conducting close-range intercepts, and deploying fast-attack craft in ways designed to signal both capability and intent. In 2019, Iranian forces seized a British-flagged tanker in the strait following a period of heightened tension. What is being declared now appears to go considerably further than those earlier incidents.

Whether Iranian naval forces will physically enforce the blockade against vessels from the United States, the United Kingdom, or other allied nations and whether those nations will attempt to run the strait under naval escort remains the most immediate question.

The energy market impact

Oil markets, already under pressure following Friday's strikes and Saturday's reports of Khamenei's death, moved sharply again. Brent crude futures climbed more than 12 percent in early trading following the IRGC announcement, with some analysts projecting further movement if the blockade holds beyond 24 hours.

The countries most immediately exposed are those in Asia particularly Japan, South Korea, India, and China which collectively import a substantial portion of their oil through the strait. Gulf states including Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Kuwait, and Iraq also export through Hormuz, meaning the blockade, if enforced, cuts into their revenues as directly as it disrupts their customers' supply.

Saudi Aramco has pipeline capacity that bypasses the strait the East-West Pipeline running to the Red Sea but its capacity covers only a fraction of the volume normally moving through Hormuz. There is no quick infrastructural workaround for a full closure.