Thousands flee Tehran as hostilities with Israel continue
The Iranian capital Tehran, home to around 10 million people and one of the biggest cities in the Middle East, has seen a mass exodus as the conflict with Israel intensifies.
Early on Tuesday, the city's once-bustling downtown began to empty, with many shops closed and the historic Grand Bazaar shuttered, a rare sight not seen since the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic.
A partial evacuation order from the Israeli military (IDF) was issued to 330,000 people living in the centre Tehran early on Monday, although many had already begun to flee following attacks at the weekend.
Traffic jams stretched for miles on roads leading out of the city, with many heading toward the Caspian Sea region.
Long lines also formed at gas stations as residents scrambled to get fuel, with limits on 25 litres of fuel per car now in place.
Later on Monday, US President Donald Trump posted a message on social media site Truth Social calling for the immediate evacuation of Tehran.
"Everybody should immediately evacuate Tehran!" Trump posted, later explaining that he issued the statement because "I just want people to be safe."
Despite this growing exodus, Iranian officials maintained that the situation was under control, offering no clear guidance for the public.
Meanwhile, flights bringing evacuees from Israel have landed in Slovakia and the Czech Republic, making them among the first countries to repatriate citizens amid the escalating conflict.
Slovak authorities confirmed the arrival of the first evacuation flight late Monday, carrying 73 passengers, including 25 Slovak tourists and five family members of Slovak diplomats based in Tel Aviv.
Poland also announced plans to evacuate its citizens from Israel, with operations scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday.
India has also evacuated an undisclosed number of students from Tehran.
The Indian Foreign Ministry said that some nationals have been assisted in leaving Iran through the border with Armenia. Those able to arrange their own transport have been urged to leave as soon as possible.
Around 50,000 Israelis are believed to be stranded overseas, with some reports putting that number closer to 100,000.
This follows the closure of Ben Gurion Airport on Friday as Israel launched airstrikes against Iran's nuclear program, a situation that has left the airport closed "until further notice."
Israeli authorities have urged citizens stranded abroad not to rush to Larnaca or Athens in hopes of returning home sooner, as Israel's airspace remains indefinitely closed to both arrivals and departures.
The National Security Council also issued a warning against attempting to reach Israel by land through Jordan or Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, with both countries now under Level 4 travel warnings, advising immediate departure for those already there.
Meanwhile, two explosions were heard across Tehran early on Tuesday afternoon, with black smoke rising from the northern part of the city near Iranian state television's headquarters and key government offices.
Iranian authorities have yet to acknowledge the attack.
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz has called on residents of Tehran to evacuate the city immediately on Tuesday, in another warning that followed a series of ominous messages posted by US President Donald Trump.
With the conflict between Israel and Iran in its fifth day and showing no signs of de-escalating as Israel further increased its strikes, the tone of these messages has been intensifying, with concerns that Washington might also imminently enter the conflict between the two continuing to grow.
Trump on Tuesday said he was 'not too much in the mood to negotiate now" and that "we're looking at better than a ceasefire".
It came after the president on Monday night issued an urgent call for people to immediately evacuate Tehran, putting out the message shortly after Israeli forces told residents in parts of the capital's north-east to leave ahead of planned strikes on what they described as 'military infrastructure'.
"Iran should have signed the 'deal' I told them to sign. What a shame, and waste of human life. Simply stated, Iran can not have a nuclear weapon. I said it over and over again! Everyone should immediately evacuate Tehran," he posted on Truth Social.
He then repeated his message that "Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon" on Tuesday, alongside a post denying reports that he had reached out to Tehran to seek a ceasefire, adding: "If they want to talk, they know how to reach me. They should have taken the deal that was on the table - Would have saved a lot of lives!!!"
The flurry of threatening messages comes after the US president left the G7 meeting early on Monday, with Trump denying reports that he did so in order to work on a ceasefire deal between Israel and Iran. The US president said the reason for his departure was 'much bigger' and unrelated to any ceasefire efforts.
In a further sign of that the conflict appears to be intensifying, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told ABC News on Monday that he was not ruling out assassinating Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. Netanyahu claimed that doing so was "not going to escalate the conflict, it's going to end the conflict".
Asked if Israel would target Khamenei, Netanyahu told the outlet that Israel was "doing what we need to do".
Katz also said threatened that Khamenei could meet the same fate as Saddam Hussein, who was executed after the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq.
'I warn the Iranian dictator against continuing to commit war crimes and launching missiles at Israeli civilians,' Katz said on Tuesday, according to local media.
Katz issued another warning, saying that Israel would continue to strike "against regime and military targets in Tehran, just as we did yesterday against the propaganda and incitement broadcasting authority," and called on residents of Iran's capital to leave nearby areas.
Meanwhile, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said on Tuesday the 27-member bloc has activated its citizen protection mechanism to facilitate evacuations, "assisting member states to evacuate their citizens that wish to leave".
"We have member states that have planes evacuating (their nationals). We have member states who don't have planes, and we coordinate the efforts so that our citizens are safe," Kallas said in a press conference after chairing a video call among the bloc's 27 foreign affairs ministers.
Israel has claimed to have gained control of Tehran's skies and warned that 'Tehran will burn' if more missiles are fired at its territory, but the Iranian leadership continued to vow a 'more severe and powerful response' and threatened to widen the war by striking targets of Israel's allies.
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