MOSCOW, January 8. /TASS/. The Russian Federal Air Transport Agency advised Russian airlines not to use airspace over Iran and Iraq, as well as over the Persian and Oman gulfs, the Agency said on Wednesday.

"Due to information on the existing risks to security of international flights of civil aircraft, the Federal Air Transport Agency recommends not using the airspace over the territories of Iran, Iraq, the Persian and Oman gulfs for flights of civil aircraft of the Russian Federation, including transit flights, until further notice," the message said.

Earlier on Wednesday, Ukraine International Airlines Boeing 737 crashed in the Iranian capital of Tehran shortly after its take-off from the Imam Khomeini International Airport. According to preliminary data, 180 passengers and crew on board were killed in the incident. Ukraine International Airlines has suspended flights to Tehran indefinitely due to the crash of its aircraft.

The situation in the Middle East has recently deteriorated sharply after the Pentagon announced on January 3 that Commander of the Quds Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (the elite wing of the Iranian military) General Qasem Soleimani had been killed in a US airstrike near Baghdad airport. The missile strike came on order of US President Donald Trump.