JAPAN TODAY



 

A total of 87 Japanese nationals and their family members have evacuated from Iran and Israel amid conflict in the Middle East, the Japanese government said Friday.

The evacuees arrived in Azerbaijan's capital Baku and Jordan's capital Amman by bus as local airports remained closed and none of them had health issues, Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya said.

Of the 87, including six foreign nationals, 66 left Tehran and arrived in Baku early Friday, while 21 departed from Tel Aviv and reached Amman on Thursday afternoon, the Foreign Ministry said.

The government is arranging additional bus transportation to evacuate more people from Iran as early as Saturday, Iwaya said.

"As the situation remains very tense, the government will protect Japanese citizens with a high sense of urgency," he said.

Around 220 Japanese nationals remained in Iran and around 1,000 in Israel after the evacuations, according to the ministry.

Japan also plans to dispatch two Self-Defense Forces planes to a base in Djibouti in eastern Africa to evacuate its nationals if airports in Iran and Israel reopen, according to Iwaya.

Israel and Iran have continued to exchange strikes since the former attacked Iranian nuclear facilities and military targets last week, alleging the Islamic Republic was close to obtaining a nuclear weapon, a claim it denies.

With possible U.S. military intervention in the conflict attracting global attention, President Donald Trump has upped pressure on Iran to abandon its nuclear program by setting a deadline for negotiations.

"I will make my decision of whether or not to go within the next two weeks," Trump said in a statement, which was read by White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt at a press briefing on Thursday.