A total of 87 Japanese nationals and their family members have evacuated from Iran and Israel amid conflict in the Middle East, the Japanese government said Friday.
The evacuees arrived in Azerbaijan's capital Baku and Jordan's capital Amman by bus as local airports remained closed and none of them had health issues, Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya said.
Of the 87, including six foreign nationals, 66 left Tehran and arrived in Baku early Friday, while 21 departed from Tel Aviv and reached Amman on Thursday afternoon, the Foreign Ministry said.
The government is arranging additional bus transportation to evacuate more people from Iran as early as Saturday, Iwaya said.
"As the situation remains very tense, the government will protect Japanese citizens with a high sense of urgency," he said.
Around 220 Japanese nationals remained in Iran and around 1,000 in Israel after the evacuations, according to the ministry.
Japan also plans to dispatch two Self-Defense Forces planes to a base in Djibouti in eastern Africa to evacuate its nationals if airports in Iran and Israel reopen, according to Iwaya.
Israel and Iran have continued to exchange strikes since the former attacked Iranian nuclear facilities and military targets last week, alleging the Islamic Republic was close to obtaining a nuclear weapon, a claim it denies.
With possible U.S. military intervention in the conflict attracting global attention, President Donald Trump has upped pressure on Iran to abandon its nuclear program by setting a deadline for negotiations.
"I will make my decision of whether or not to go within the next two weeks," Trump said in a statement, which was read by White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt at a press briefing on Thursday.
© KYODO
5 Comments
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Garlic eater
As long as this was a voluntary evacuation, not something forced on these Japanese by an overzealous government who "knows what's best" for their citizens, then it is reasonable. As anyone who has been in a country under attack, the media does tend to focus on the sensational hotspots and blow things up to get readership.
WoodyLee
Well Done, glad they were moved to safety.
HopeSpringsEternal
Better safe than sorry!
Ricky Kaminski13
Australia just sent a group of its own military to the region as well to help evacuate its own citizens to safety. Good to hear Japan was straight in there doing the same.
War zone evacuation. We are truly living in historic times.
Kumagaijin
Good for Japan. I remember after 3/11 and the Fukushima meltdown, the Canadian government was absolutely silent on getting Canadians out of Japan. Apparently its happening again.