Mehrabad Airport

Mehrabad International Airport (OIII) is Tehran's oldest airport, 12 km west of the city centre. It served as Iran's principal international gateway for decades until Imam Khomeini International Airport opened south of the capital in 2004 and took over long-haul and international traffic, leaving Mehrabad as the city's domestic hub. It also houses aircraft servicing facilities and sits within Iran's air-defence command network, a dual civil and military role that long predates the current war.

During the Iran-Israel war Mehrabad became one of the conflict's most contested infrastructure nodes. The Israeli Air Force destroyed an aircraft used by Ali Khamenei and senior officials at the airport on Day 40. The IDF struck again on Day 62, alongside Bahram and Azmayesh airports, targeting military logistics corridors in a co-ordinated infrastructure strike timed to the ceasefire announcement.

By late April 2026, Mehrabad had become one of two primary Iranian destinations for Russian Ilyushin Il-76 heavy transport flights, delivering radar systems, electronic-warfare components and aviation parts at high tempo. RFE/RL reported the flights alongside deliveries to Bandar Abbas, and the Pentagon assessed both as sustaining Iran's operational military capacity after the February strikes. The airport's continued function as a Russian supply terminus, in a civilian urban zone, confirms neither Israeli strike permanently disabled it.