'Risk of interrogation & long prison sentences': Germany joins list of countries warning citizens to leave Iran

Germany has advised citizens to depart Iran citing risks of “sudden escalation” and said those with dual citizenship of both countries are especially at risk of getting arbitrarily arrested and interrogated.

“In the current tensions, especially between Israel and Iran, there is a risk of a sudden escalation,” Germany’s Foreign Office wrote in a renewed travel warning.

“It cannot be excluded that air, land and sea transport routes could be affected,” it adds.

German airline Lufthansa, on Friday, announced that it would no longer use Iranian airspace as it extended a suspension on flights to and from the capital Tehran amid rising tensions in the Middle East.

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“Due to the current situation, Lufthansa is suspending its flights to and from Tehran up to and including Thursday, 18 April,” a company spokesperson said Friday.

The German advisory comes after a report citing US intelligence officials forewarned that Iran could attack Israeli soil in the ’next 24 to 48 hours’. Earlier, US President Joe Biden warned Tehran might attack Israel “sooner than later”.

“German citizens are at concrete risk of being arbitrarily arrested and interrogated and being given long prison sentences. Dual citizens with Iranian and German nationality are especially at risk,” the Foreign Office said. India, Russia & European nations issue advisories

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Several other nations, including India, France, Poland, UK and Russia issued travel advisories against travelling to Israel and Iran. The French foreign ministry advised its citizens to refrain from travelling to Iran, Lebanon, Israel, and the Palestinian territories.

The Ministry of External Affairs urged Indians to avoid travelling to Iran and Israel until further notice and asked citizens residing there to get in touch with respective embassies and register themselves given the security situation in the region.

Multiple reports citing US officials suggested that Iran has prepared over 100 cruise missiles and an equal number of drones for a potential strike on military sites within Israel. The assault on Israel may involve Iranian military units as well as allied groups supported by Iran.

The war threat looms in the region as Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Israel “must be punished and it shall be” for an alleged airstrike on a consulate in Damascus, Syria on April 2 that killed top Iranian military officials, including a senior member of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ elite Quds Force.

The Jewish state has neither confirmed nor denied being behind the attack.