Bangladesh has begun a process to relocate its citizens from Tehran to a ‘safe place’ in Iran as around 400 Bangladeshis living in the Iranian capital have been exposed to danger due to attacks from Israel for the past five days.
‘Around 100 people out of 400 Bangladeshis staying in Tehran in danger due to repeated attacks from Israel for last five days have so far asked for relocation to a safe place in Iran,’ acting foreign secretary Md Ruhul Alam Siddique told a press briefing at the ministry in Dhaka on Tuesday.
He said that the relocation process of Bangladesh nationals along with around 40 officials and staff members of the Bangladesh mission in Tehran had already begun as they could not fly from there in this situation.
‘We are arranging accommodations and transports for all those Bangladeshi citizens willing to relocate at our government costs to a safe place at this moment. Later, we will take measures to return home through Pakistan and Turkey if they are willing to come back home,’ said Ruhul Alam.
He said that the Bangladesh envoy had already left his residence in Tehran.
He said that Israel had continued attacks since early Friday and Iran had also retaliated. Bangladesh has already condemned Israeli attacks on Iran and called upon all parties to exercise the utmost restraint and refrain from any actions that may further escalate tensions in an already volatile region.
Responding to a question, the secretary said that Pakistan and India, having larger communities there, had already evacuated their citizens.
He said that around 2000 Bangladeshis were in Iran and many of them had married Iranian girls getting them settled in different areas while some of them were engaged in fishing. Some of them were detained in jails for having no legal documents, he added.
He said that at least eight Bangladeshi journalists employed at Iran’s state-run radio station Radio Tehran escaped unhurt as the station came under attack on Monday.
About the delay in relocation, the secretary said that they were facing difficulties in sending additional funds through the banking channel for the purpose since Iran was facing various sanctions.Â
Dhaka on Monday opened hotlines to receive reports from its citizens living in Iran and their relatives in Dhaka to assess the situation before taking a final decision on whether to pull the expatriates from the Middle Eastern country.
Iran has been exchanging attacks with Israel since the latter launched an air attack on it on June 13, fuelling widespread fears about the conflict spilling over to other Middle Eastern countries.
 The hotline number of the foreign ministry in Dhaka is +8801712012847 while the numbers in Tehran are +989908577368 and +989122065745.
The tensions in the Middle East showed no signs of de-escalating until Tuesday.
Different countries have started deporting their citizens from Iran and Israel.
