PUTRAJAYA: There is no pressing need to repatriate Malaysians in Iran, Jordan and Lebanon following tension between Iran and Israel, says Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan.
He said that Wisma Putra is assessing the situation in these countries and assuring that the welfare of Malaysians there is a top priority.
“If the National Security Council directs an evacuation of our people, we will proceed to bring them home,” he said at the Foreign Ministry’s Hari Raya Aidilfitri open house on Monday (April 22).
Mohamad said there are 38 Malaysians, including embassy staff in Iran and between 2,000 and 3,000 in Jordan, of whom are mostly students.
According to records, there are about 800 Malaysians in Lebanon, the majority of them are peacekeepers serving in the United Nations Interim Force (Unifil).
“For now, there is no pressing need to bring them home,” he said.
On April 19, Israel launched an attack on Iran in the latest tit-for-tat exchange between the two arch-rivals.
This came after Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corp (IRGC) had launched dozens of its missiles against Israel six days earlier on April 13.
Earlier, Iran had unleashed a massive aerial strike in retaliation for a suspected Israeli attack on its consulate in Damascus.
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