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Indonesia finalizes evacuation plan for citizens amid escalating US-Iran feud
Jakarta is close to issuing a mandatory evacuation order as part of its contingency plan to anticipate an escalation of conflict between Iran and the United States.
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This still image from an Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting video shot on Wednesday allegedly shows rockets launched from Iran against the United States military base in Ein-al Asad in Iraq. (AFP/IRIB)
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akarta is preparing for the worst following escalating tensions between Iran and the United States early on Wednesday, which prompted the Foreign Ministry to hold immediate coordination meetings with the heads of Indonesian missions overseas.
Iranian military forces launched a ballistic missile attack on a US-affiliated air base in Ayn Al-Asad more than a 1,000 kilometers southwest of Tehran, marking the start of a new round of confrontations between the two nations. The attack is considered an act of revenge against Washington’s assassination of top Iranian general Qassem Soleimani last week in Iraq.
In a statement carried by Reuters, the US military said Iran had called the strike at about 1:30 a.m. local time, firing more than a dozen ballistic missiles against US-led forces.
Despite Indonesia’s call for restraint just a day prior, tensions between the two rivals have soared, risking a potential spillover into surrounding areas and prompting the Foreign Ministry to devise an immediate response to ensure the safety of hundreds of Indonesians in the region.
The ministry estimates that around 765,000 Indonesians live and work in the Middle East, of which just 406 reside in Iran and 850 in Iraq.
“Our ambassadors are in Jakarta. We will be having a coordination meeting [on Wednesday] with our envoys in Tehran, Baghdad and our permanent representative in New York,” Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi told journalists after her annual foreign policy statement on Wednesday morning.
High on the minister’s priority list is an update from the chief of mission overseeing the United Nations Security Council, of which Indonesia is a nonpermanent member. Officials have privately indicated separate talks on the US-Iran conflict, but nothing conclusive has emerged.
