In this US Navy released handout, Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Frank E. Petersen Jr. (DDG 121) fires a Tomahawk Land Attack Missile during operations in support of Operation Epic Fury, on 28 February at sea.

• Switzerland has stopped issuing new export licenses for weapons to the United States since the US-Israel-Iran war began on 28 February.
• Switzerland has blocked some US military flights related to the Iran conflict while allowing non-combat-related flights.
• The Swiss government is applying its 1996 federal neutrality act, which requires export licenses based on human rights principles.

Switzerland has said it will not issue licences for companies to export weapons to the United States due to the ongoing war on Iran, citing the country’s longstanding principle of neutrality.

“The export of war materiel to countries involved in the international armed conflict with Iran cannot be authorised for the duration of the conflict,” the government said in a statement on Friday.

“Exports of war materiel to the USA ‌cannot currently be authorised,” it added.

The announcement comes as the US-Israeli war on Iran nears the three-week mark, spurring a deepening humanitarian crisis across the wider Middle East and sending global energy prices soaring.

It also follows a decision by the Swiss government to close its airspace to US military flights directly linked to the Iran war.

Last weekend, it said it had rejected two US flyover requests on Iran-related war flights but permitted three others, also citing Switzerland’s neutrality law.

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A Swiss federal act, approved in 1996, stipulates that the import, export and transit of war materiel and related technology require export licences based on the principles of human rights and neutrality.

Since the Iran war began on 28 February, Switzerland said no new export licences were issued to the US.

The government also noted that no definitive licences for exports of war materiel to Israel have been granted for several years, and the same applies to Iran.

Existing US licences will now face regular review by a group of experts to assess whether steps are required under the neutrality law, it said.

Exports of dual-use and specific military goods will also be regularly reviewed by the expert group.

The government said:

The US was the second-largest importer of Swiss arms last year, according to government data, with sales worth $119m (94.2 million francs).

The Swiss government had previously blocked allied nations from sending Swiss-made equipment to Ukraine, which is fighting a Russian invasion that began in 2022.

Following the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, Switzerland imposed bans on flights over Swiss airspace and weapons exports to countries involved in the war, but later lifted them.