The French Foreign Ministry has urged nationals visiting Iran to leave the country immediately amid rising regional tensions after Tehran accused Israel of killing Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh earlier this week.
"Due to the increased risk of a military escalation in the region, visiting French nationals still in Iran are invited to leave as soon as possible," the ministry said Friday, reported Le Monde.
Haniyeh was assassinated Wednesday in a pre-dawn attack while in Tehran for the inauguration ceremonies for Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian.
Haniyeh was buried in Qatar on Friday. Tehran and Iran-backed Hamas and Hezbollah have blamed Israel, which has not commented on the killing.
Several other Western countries have advised their citizens to avoid travel to Israel and Lebanon over this past week as the threat of widening conflict grows, reported The Times of Israel.
However, the French warning about Iran is new. Other countries have not made recommendations against being in Iran since April, when it attacked Israel over the killing of a senior army general in Damascus.
Iran launched hundreds of missiles and drones at Israel, but almost all were intercepted by Israeli forces in coordination with the United States and other countries in the region, including France, Britain, and some Arab states.
Meanwhile, Israel has claimed responsibility for an airstrike Tuesday in Beirut that killed Hezbollah commander Fouad Shukur, along with an Iranian military adviser and at least five civilians.
Israel said the Hezbollah commander was behind the rocket attack that had hit a Golan Heights soccer field days before in, killing 12 children. Hezbollah has denied being responsible for the strike.
Information from The Associated Press, Reuters, and Agence-France Presse was used in this report.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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