Dutch citizens strongly advised to immediately leave Iran

The Dutch government warned citizens of the Netherlands to leave Iran as soon as they can safely do so. The Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs updated its warning about the country on Wednesday, even though in October 2022 it already placed Iran on the list of locations considered to be the riskiest for travel.

The decision to tell Dutch people to leave the country in the Middle East is because of the escalating conflict between Iran and Israel. An Israeli airstrike targeting the Iranian diplomatic mission in Damascus on April 1 killed two senior officers of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard and five subordinates.

Intelligence gathered by Western nations late last week showed a growing mobilization of Iranian military vehicles. That led many countries, including the Netherlands, to warn of the possibility of retaliatory strikes on Israel.

The Netherlands then issued a Code Red travel warning telling people not to visit Israel under any circumstances for the time being. Additionally, the government said they could not guarantee the possibility of organizing evacuation flights for those who decided to either visit or stay there. The same warning was issued to everyone in three Kurdish regions of Iraq.

Dozens of unmanned drones and missiles were fired in a mission led by Iran on Saturday. Even though most of these were shot down before they struck their targets in Israel, the head of Israel’s military said on Wednesday that they planned to respond, despite international pressure against further military escalation.

“The travel advice for Iran has been red for some time. We advise Dutch nationals as follows: do not travel to Iran, because it is too dangerous,” the Dutch embassy in Iran wrote on Wednesday.

“The travel advice is constantly being re-examined due to developments regarding the regional situation. This resulted in an addition to the current travel advice: leave Iran if you can do so safely.”