Iran's retaliatory attack caused great damage to Israel. (Photo: Thanh Binh/VNA)
Hundreds of flights have been canceled or delayed. Most Europeans evacuated from Israel have been bused to Jordan or Egypt, before being flown home. Meanwhile, China, India, Pakistan and other countries have begun the process of evacuating their citizens from Iran.
China has evacuated nearly 800 citizens and begun moving some others from Tehran to Turkmenistan by bus, covering a distance of 1,150km, according to the China News Service.
A representative of the Chinese Foreign Ministry confirmed that it had not received any reports of casualties involving its citizens in Iran.
According to the representative, a total of 791 Chinese citizens have been evacuated from Iran to safe areas and more than 1,000 others are in the process of being evacuated.
Indian students in Tehran have been evacuated from the city , the Ministry of External Affairs said. Media reports said 110 people had been evacuated. Other residents who had their own transport were also advised to leave Tehran as the situation was evolving. Some Indians have also left Iran via the Armenian border.
Although Pakistan has closed some official border crossings, the borders at Taftan and Gabd-Rimdan in southwestern Balochistan province remain open to citizens wishing to return home.
On June 18, Bulgarian authorities said that 148 people, including 89 Bulgarian citizens and 59 foreign citizens, had been successfully evacuated from Israel.
The Bulgarian Foreign Ministry said it had arranged a charter flight to bring the evacuees home, after travelling from Israel to Egypt by land.
The British Foreign Office confirmed that the families of its diplomatic staff in Israel have been temporarily evacuated. British citizens have been advised not to travel to Israel and those in Tel Aviv and other cities have been advised to register with the embassy.
Earlier this week, Britain said it had no plans to evacuate citizens stranded in Israel, but had stepped up support in Jordan and Egypt to repatriate those displaced by land.
Germany has advised its citizens to make their own way to the Jordanian capital Amman, before boarding charter flights to Frankfurt. About 4,000 Germans in Israel and 1,000 in Iran have registered for evacuation.
Cyprus, the European Union (EU) country closest to the Middle East, has activated the Estia plan to help evacuate its citizens from neighboring countries. Estia was last activated in October last year, when Israel launched an air campaign against Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Poland has also evacuated 200 citizens from Israel and Jordan, and moved its diplomatic staff in Iran to Baku, Azerbaijan.
Statistics show that more than 600 people from 17 countries left Iran for Azerbaijan from June 13 to 17. It takes about 8 hours to travel from Tehran to Azerbaijan by road, while it takes more than 10 hours to reach the Armenian border.
A representative of the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry said that more than 1,200 citizens from 51 countries have requested permission to travel from Iran to Azerbaijan. The Kremlin thanked Azerbaijan for helping Russian citizens leave Iran.
Greece has repatriated 105 citizens and foreigners from Israel. The country's foreign ministry said the repatriates were flown to Athens from the Egyptian city of Sharm El-Sheikh on Greek Air Force C-130 and C-27 aircraft.
IMO urges shipping lines to assess security situation before passing through Strait of Hormuz
The International Maritime Organization (IMO) said on June 18 that there is currently no sign of an increased threat to shipping in the Persian Gulf, and called on shipping companies to assess the security situation before deciding to pass through the Strait of Hormuz.
Fears are growing that the Strait of Hormuz could be closed after Israel attacked Iran’s nuclear facilities. Closing the strait would disrupt global supply chains, as 20% of the world’s crude oil flows through the narrow channel that connects the Persian Gulf to the Arabian Sea.
Speaking at the IMO’s annual safety meeting on June 18, IMO Secretary-General Arsenio Dominguez said there was no indication yet that the Strait of Hormuz would be closed or disrupted. Mr. Dominguez called on shipping companies to conduct a security assessment before attempting to pass through the strait.
Mr. Dominguez said that IMO has not yet detected any signs of a crisis in the above-mentioned sea area.
“There is currently no indication that vessels or seafarers are being targeted or that any disruption will occur to maritime trade in the area,” he said.
Dominguez said conflict resolution was not within the IMO's remit, but the agency would act in cases where there was a negative impact on shipping, as happened during the Red Sea crisis when Houthi forces in Yemen targeted commercial vessels moving through the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden in response to the conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.
When ships were targeted in the Red Sea, IMO acted as an intermediary between the parties to address the negative impact that tensions had on shipping, seafarers, the environment, vessels and the economy.
“It will take time for maritime trade through the Red Sea to return to normal, but we are seeing increased trade through the Red Sea and the Suez Canal,” the IMO Secretary-General added.
Also at the IMO meeting on June 18, Mr. Seyed Ali Mousavi, Iran's representative to the IMO and also Iran's ambassador to the United Kingdom, warned that the danger to ships was becoming more obvious, after he accused Israel of attacking an oil refinery and gas field on the Asalouyeh coast.
“These actions directly endanger international maritime security and the global energy supply chain. If the international community does not take urgent and concrete measures to stop these actions, the risk of escalation at sea will become urgent,” Mr. Mousavi added./.
According to VNA
Source: https://baothanhhoa.vn/cac-quoc-gia-tiep-tuc-so-tan-cong-dan-khoi-israel-va-iran-252614.htm
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