Malaysia’s Foreign Minister Saifuddin Abdullah announced today that the government was making preparations to evacuate country nationals in Iraq and Iran should the latest escalation of tension in the region boil over into outright hostilities.
Saiffuddin made the announcement following a meeting between the Foreign Ministry, the National Security Council, the Defense Ministry, the Home Affairs Ministry, the Prime Minister’s Department, and other government agencies on the matter.
“We are making preparations in case there is a need for evacuation. Currently, there are 58 Malaysians in Iran, half of whom are students,” he told reporters at an event held in a Puchong-area school. “In Iraq, we have 162, with the majority of them [being] Petronas staff and several lecturers.”
Embassies in the two countries have been ordered to be on stand-by for a potential influx of nationals should the situation take a turn for the worse, and Saiffuddin reminded Malaysians there to keep in contact with Wisma Putra. Citizens have also been urged to avoid non-essential travel to the region.
The news comes just a day after Malaysia Airlines announced that they would be avoiding airspace over the two nations following retaliatory attacks by Iran on American targets in Iraq over the killing of Iranian general Qassem Soleimani.
The powerful figure was taken out in a U.S. drone strike near the Baghdad airport this week, prompting widespread fears of war between the longtime adversaries. Following the rocket strikes, however, Iran announced that it had “concluded” its operations and would not be hitting other targets, while U.S. President Donald Trump also signaled in a speech on Wednesday that the U.S. would not be seeking further escalation.
