BERLIN, April 10 (Reuters) - Germany's Lufthansa

on Wednesday said after careful evaluation it decided

to suspend flights to and from Tehran until probably Thursday,

April 11, "due to the current situation in the Middle East".

"We are constantly monitoring the situation in the Middle

East and are in close contact with the authorities. The safety

of our guests and crew members is Lufthansa's top priority," a

spokesperson for the company told Reuters.

Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said on

Wednesday that Israel "must be punished and it shall be" for

attacking the Iranian embassy compound in Syria. In a major

escalation of Israel's war with regional adversaries, suspected

Israeli warplanes bombed Iran's consulate in the Syrian capital

on April 1 in a strike that Iran said killed seven military

advisers.