Iran Warns Citizens To Leave Ukraine

Iran’s foreign ministry issued an advisory calling on Iranian citizens not to travel to Ukraine and advised Iranians currently in Ukraine to leave the country “for their own safety.” The advisory, issued “due to the military escalation in Ukraine,” provided a phone number for the Iranian Embassy in Kyiv for citizens to call, Reuters reported, citing semiofficial news agencies in Iran.

The advisory issued on Friday comes a day after the United States accused Iran of helping Russia operate Iranian-made drones against Ukraine.

“Today we can confirm that Russian military personnel that are based in Crimea have been piloting Iranian UAVs, using them to conduct strikes across Ukraine, including strikes against Kyiv in just recent days. We assess that Iranian military personnel were on the ground in Crimea and assisted Russia in these operations. Russia has received dozens of UAVs so far and will likely continue to receive additional shipments in the future,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said in a briefing on Thursday. He added that the US is “concerned that Russia may also seek to acquire advanced conventional weapons from Iran, such as surface-to-surface missiles that will almost certainly be used to support the war against Ukraine.”