Fifteen Indonesian nationals in Iran ready to be evacuated via Azerbaijan

Jakarta — Foreign Minister Sugiono said that 15 Indonesian citizens in Tehran, Iran, are prepared to be evacuated via Baku, Azerbaijan, amid escalating Middle East tensions involving Iran, the United States and Israel.

‘We are arranging when the evacuation will take place because the airspace is also being closed. If the evacuation from Tehran proceeds, they will have to be taken to Baku, which is a ten-hour journey,’ Sugiono told reporters at the Presidential Palace in Jakarta on Tuesday night (3 March).

The Foreign Minister said that the government is cooperating with the Indonesian Embassy in Iran to arrange the timing of the evacuation by land from Tehran to Baku, Azerbaijan.

Sugiono explained that preparations are being made with consideration of logistics and the health conditions of each Indonesian citizen due to the lengthy land journey from Tehran to Baku, and then the flight to Jakarta.

‘If someone asks for evacuation, we will evacuate them. It is not possible to move people who do not want to be relocated. In the GCC alone, Qatar has 27,000 people; if they request evacuation, we would evacuate. In Qatar, UAE, Bahrain, none have asked to be evacuated yet. These 15 have expressed willingness,’ he said.

He also instructed Indonesian Ambassador to Iran Rolliansyah Soemirat to immediately take steps to evacuate Indonesians in Iran.

‘In the midst of the escalating tensions, this afternoon I also instructed our ambassador in Tehran to take immediate evacuation steps if there are Indonesian people who wish to be evacuated,’ Sugiono added.

President Prabowo Subianto, he said, also emphasised that Indonesia must be prepared to face all possible consequences of the conflict’s spillover.