Malaysian evacuees' 1,000km escape from conflict-torn Iran
Iran 's uncertain highways, a convoy of
Malaysians pressed eastward from the capital, racing against the spectre of violence to reach the safety of the
Turkmenistan border.
The evacuation of 17 Malaysians from conflict-hit Iran unfolded as a day-long odyssey spanning more than 1,000km (620 miles) as tensions mounted.
Among them was Khairi Omar, Malaysia's ambassador to Iran, who called the operation 'challenging but successful' amid the precarious security situation gripping the region.
'Thanks to the close cooperation of the Turkmenistan government, we were allowed entry and proceeded directly to Ashgabat Airport for a connecting flight,' Khairi said on Sunday following the group's return.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
South China Morning Post
2 hours ago
- South China Morning Post
Turmoil for millions of Afghans expelled from Iran amid Israel war tensions
Habiba is an Afghan woman who fled Taliban rule to pursue a master's degree in engineering in Iran. But in July, she was deported just before she was about to complete her studies. The 31-year-old, who declined to give her family name for fear of repercussions, said she returned to her homeland with little more than her laptop and documents. These were the last traces of a future she nearly secured, as she is one of hundreds of thousands forced to return as Iran ramped up expulsions of Afghans in the wake of its war with Israel. Habiba said she had just saved enough to complete her thesis, the final step before graduation, and now will have to start over in a country where women are barred from high school, let alone university. Why are there so many deportations? Aid agencies say accusations by Iranian authorities that Afghan nationals were spying for Israel triggered a surge in deportations. The two countries share a 920km land border through a flat, arid landscape. Iranian officials maintain that those deported were undocumented and most left voluntarily, citing security and resource concerns. Interior Minister Eskandar Momeni said in July that 70 per cent of the one million who left since March did so by choice, local media reported. Local media quoted Nader Yarahmadi, an adviser to Iran's Interior Ministry and head of its Centre for Foreign Nationals and Immigrants Affairs, as saying that temporary census cards held by about 2 million Afghan nationals were invalidated from March. He stated that they had until July to leave. An additional 2 million Afghans in Iran had no documents, he said. The number of Afghans returning exploded after Israel and Iran fought a 12-day war in June. But Iranian officials have downplayed espionage claims as isolated media reports. The crackdown is on illegal immigrants, Yarahmadi said. Aid workers at Islam Qala said some of the returnees arrived after days without food or water. Momeni said deportations were conducted with 'respect and dignity', but admitted the war triggered rushed exits, leaving many without their wages or possessions. Afghan women have lost opportunities as Iran expels refugees amid war tensions, leaving many to start over in a restrictive homeland. Photo: AFP Struggles of returnees The flood of refugees returning to Afghanistan from Iran and Pakistan is straining aid in a country already grappling with economic collapse, donor fatigue and a ban on girls' secondary education. But it is the post-conflict purge from Iran that has overwhelmed Afghan authorities and aid workers, many of whom say they were unprepared for the scale and speed of the deportations. The Taliban-led government has urged Iran to proceed gradually and allow returnees time to settle financial affairs and retrieve personal property. Rahela, 37, said she had built a steady livelihood in Tehran as a certified make-up artist and seamstress. Now back in the Afghan city of Herat with her two daughters, she said she could see no future. She said she separated from her husband several years ago after he struggled with drug addiction and had been raising her daughters alone ever since. The Taliban's restrictions bar women from most forms of employment and from travelling long distances without a male guardian. Her elderly father could not accompany her or provide support, leaving her effectively confined, she said. While the women who have returned spoke of lost rights and opportunities, Afghan men described split families, derailed plans and an uncertain future. Rahim Uzbek, 59, said he was arrested at his job as a security guard, deported alone, and is now living in a mosque near the Islam Qala crossing, away from his two wives and seven children who remained in Iran, although they were also Afghan nationals. He said that he had some money tied up in an advance payment for rent in Iran, but the landlord did not return it. 'I have no assets or savings, nor do I have any shelter or place to stay,' he said, with tears in his eyes. 'I have no idea what to do.' Rahim Uzbek, 59, an Afghan national who was deported from Iran, stands outside a camp for returning migrants near the Islam Qala border crossing in Herat province, Afghanistan. Photo: Reuters Mansoor Ahmad, 21, a metalworker from Kabul, said he was arrested at work and deported without his family. He said Iranian officers accused him of helping someone escape a deportation camp and beat him when he denied it. 'When I spoke, they beat me. When I stayed silent, they beat me again,' he said. 'Then they put me in solitary.' Red marks and bruises were visible on his back and shoulders, consistent with being struck or kicked. Iranian officials deny systemic abuse. The Iranian ambassador's deputy in Kabul, Alireza Bigdeli, said there were no official reports of mistreatment but acknowledged 'some may be unhappy with the way they were treated, detained, or returned'. Iranian authorities say they tried to prevent family separations but admit the post-war rush split some families. Students were encouraged to leave with relatives under a voluntary return plan. While many of the Afghans said life in Iran was tough, marked by discrimination, high costs and a constant sense of being unwelcome, they still had goals. Some worked, others studied. 'The situation in Iran was very difficult,' Rahela said. 'People treated us harshly. They humiliated and insulted us. But at least there was security and work. Women could work ... and that was good for us.'
AllAfrica
4 hours ago
- AllAfrica
Did the 12-day war forever change Iran's Khamenei?
In the weeks since Israel's expansive 12-day war, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has rarely been seen in public. That absence has inevitably led to speculation over the 86-year-old's health. But it also left many Middle East observers wondering about the future direction of the republic, and how its leadership will respond to possibly Iran's biggest challenges since the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s. The attacks by Israel, and later the U.S., struck hundreds of targets across the country and resulted in the deaths of over 1,000 people, including many of Iran's top military commanders and nuclear scientists. But it was all the more stark, for those in Tehran, for how it caught the Islamic Republic by surprise. Indeed, Iran had been engaged in good-faith diplomatic talks with the United States. It was, in the words of Hassan Rouhani, the former president and potential successor to Khamenei, a 'wake-up call to correct our course and rebuild the foundations of governance.' But will the leader heed that call? As a scholar of Iranian and Middle Eastern political affairs, I believe the conflict has provided the opportunity for the Iranian leadership to reestablish itself with some notion of regeneration that could appease both the traditional conservatives as well as those seeking reform with the domestic status quo. As Iran civilian and military targets were being hit by repeated Israeli airstrikes, and intelligence operations were picking off senior government and military officials, Khamenei was reportedly commanding from a safe bunker. Already cognizant of the potential threat to his security before the latest conflict, the supreme leader is known to have considered contingency succession plans and seemingly named potential successors should he perish. These names were not publicly released but were rumored not to have included his son, Mojtaba Khamenei, but is speculated to have included some of his closest allies. Being cloistered from the conflict and considering his potential imminent demise underscored just how under the spotlight Khamenei's leadership has become. One of the world's longest-serving leaders, and once seen as the unifying axis of the Islamic Republic as well as inheritor of the legacy of the Iranian Revolution's founding father, Ayatollah Khomeini, the supreme leader is now facing rare scrutiny from various quarters. An Iranian man carries a young girl and points at a destroyed residential building targeted amid the Iran-Israel 12-day war in Tehran, Iran, on July 21, 2025. Photo: Morteza Nikoubazl / NurPhoto via Getty Images / The Conversation While Khamenei still earned official praise from elements of his coalition over the handling of the war, critics have questioned his strategic handling of the conflict with Israel, arguing that the confrontation exposed Iran's military vulnerabilities without delivering meaningful gains – something Iran has contested vehemently in its own evaluation of the conflict. Meanwhile, some point to his advanced age and long-standing resistance to change as obstacles to the country's political and economic revival, with even his closest adviser, Ali Akbar Velayati, suggesting now is the time for reform. Given this confluence of negative events and perceptions, Khamenei now faces a choice. He still commands deep loyalty among conservative domestic audiences and the security establishment, yet his government's standing beyond that is receiving more critique than ever. At the same time, the postwar landscape has created an opening for reform that could shore up the Islamic Republic's future, calm social pressures and reopen doors to diplomacy and investment. One path for Khamanei would be to remain as the supreme leader but gradually delegate, signaling controlled change from within. Another, more dramatic option would echo Pope Benedict XVI's precedent: a formal abdication that preserves his spiritual and symbolic standing, allowing him to maintain a 'Leader Emeritus' title, while transferring day-to-day authority to a successor empowered to slowly introduce incremental reform without publicly diminishing him. Such a staged handover could let the system adapt, give younger elites political space and allow policy shifts to proceed without the notion of losing credibility. But there also remains the reality that Khamenei's loyal conservative followers command a strong pull with domestic audiences. And those factions, especially after the latest conflict, will be less inclined to consider reform and far more interested in cracking down on potential information leaks that led Israel to conduct such precise operations against military elites in the first place. Yet given the position of the government, reform is inevitably on the agenda again. And some of the reforms being quietly discussed include loosening internet restrictions, particularly on popular social media platforms widely used by Iran's large and youthful population. Access to digital spaces has become not just a cultural and economic issue but a marker of generational culture. In the wake of the 2022 death of Mahsa Amini, whose detention by morality police and subsequent death led to widespread protests, Iran's leaders have faced calls to revise the government's strict morality laws. If the government made reforms to that end, which have already been unofficially and anecdotally reported in places, it could help ease tensions with women and younger Iranians without fundamentally challenging the system's foundations. On the international front, Iran has already begun to recalibrate its foreign policy, as reflected in its accession to the BRICS group of nations in 2024. This move suggests a desire to become less isolationist and to engage more actively on the global stage. Further steps could include seeking membership in other international institutions and organizations in exchange for commitments on regional and global issues, along with enhanced cooperation with nuclear watchdogs and regulatory bodies. If successful, that might unlock long-stalled investment opportunities and trade partnerships, helping to revive an economy hit by years of US-imposed sanctions and isolation. Each of these steps, while modest in isolation, could signal a broader shift – not in a full overnight transformation, but a cautious adaptation that shows a willingness to adapt. This is all related to the most pressing international question of Iran's nuclear program, which remains unresolved despite the recent conflict and reported severe damage from US bunker-busting strikes. Tehran continues to insist that its nuclear ambitions are purely peaceful and civilian in nature and would be loathe to abandon the program. For the Islamic Republic, the program is more than a strategic deterrent; it stands as a marker of national pride and technological advancement. Whether under the current supreme leader or a future successor, the issue will remain central to the identity and long-term vision of the state. Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei holds a meeting with senior officials at his residence in Tehran, Iran, on April 15, 2025. Photo: Iranian Leader Press Office / Handout Despite threats to pull out of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty during the recent conflict with Israel, Iran remains a signatory and maintains that its nuclear program operates within the bounds of international law. Yet any move toward greater transparency or cooperation must be weighed against past experience. The 2015 nuclear agreement, once hailed as a diplomatic breakthrough, ultimately collapsed after the United States unilaterally withdrew and reimposed economic sanctions on Tehran during President Donald Trump's first term. In the aftermath of the Iran deal's fall, Iran was targeted by a series of covert operations and military strikes widely attributed to Israel or even – in the case of assassinated general Qassem Soleimani – the US. These events have reinforced skepticism within Tehran's leadership about the reliability of Western commitments and the costs of compromise. As such, while a more open and cooperative posture could in theory lead to eased sanctions, renewed trade and a path to international legitimacy, it also risks undermining Iran's self-styled mantle of resistance to American and Israel regional policy. For any reformist shift to gain traction, it would have to reconcile Iran's desire for economic recovery with the imperative of preserving ideological credibility at home and projecting resilience abroad. All of this will weigh on Khamenei, who has overall say in all foreign and domestic policy matters. Choosing to reform while still alive and in power could allow him to shape his legacy on his own terms, preserving the core of the Islamic Revolution while gently steering the country toward necessary change. In doing so, he may also find a rare balance between tradition and modernity that speaks to both loyal conservatives and a generation hungry for reform. The war, ironically, may have presented Khamenei with the opportunity to thread that needle. The big question now is will he. Shirvin Zeinalzadeh is graduate teaching associate, School of Politics and Global Studies, Arizona State University This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
South China Morning Post
8 hours ago
- South China Morning Post
South Korea's ‘headache': defence cost-sharing on agenda for US summit, but no Taiwan talk
The United States is expected to pile pressure on South Korea for increased burden-sharing of defence costs in a coming summit between the leaders of both countries, with Seoul's role in a potential Taiwan conflict set to be excluded from the agenda. The cautious stance on China also aligns with the office of South Korean President Lee Jae-myung stressing the importance of fostering ties and engagement, as it downplays comments by his foreign minister labelling Beijing a 'problem'. Discussions are still under way to finalise the agenda for the first summit between Lee and US President Donald Trump , tentatively set for later this month in Washington. US representatives have reportedly informed Seoul during working-level talks that Washington does not plan to raise the Taiwan issue at the summit, according to Yonhap News Agency. Instead, the summit was likely to yield only a broad agreement to elevate the bilateral alliance into a 'comprehensive strategic alliance' in response to an evolving regional security environment, it said. Public Affairs Director of South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff Lee Sung-jun (left) and United States Forces Korea Public Affairs Director Ryan Donald (right) at Thursday's press briefing on the Ulchi Freedom Shield exercise, part of an annual combined training with troops from South Korea and the United States. Photo: EPA The progressive Hankyoreh daily, citing a senior government official, also reported that South Korea's role in the event of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan would not be broached at the summit. 'That is a hypothetical situation, so we will not talk about it,' the official said.
