Taoiseach and Tánaiste call for ‘immediate de-escalation' between Iran and Israel
The Taoiseach and Tánaiste have called for an 'immediate de-escalation' between Israel and Iran and for diplomatic talks to restart.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin said Iran should make clear it will not pursue further enrichment of uranium.
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Tánaiste Simon Harris, who is also the Minister for Foreign Affairs, said work was ongoing at EU level to engage with citizens in Israel and Iran who may wish to leave.
Iran and Israel have been striking each other's territory for a week, deepening the crisis in the Middle East.
Israel said it launched an attack to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon.
Iran has insisted its nuclear programme is peaceful, but it is the only non-nuclear-armed state to enrich uranium up to 60 per cent, far in excess of the levels required for power stations and a short, technical step away from weapons-grade levels of 90 per cent.
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After a missile attack on a hospital in southern Israel, defence minister Israel Katz said Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei 'absolutely should not continue to exist'.
US president Donald Trump has also reportedly been considering involving the US by targeting a uranium enrichment facility in Iran.
Asked what role Ireland can play in the crisis, Mr Martin said Ireland and the EU can urge 'restraint and de-escalation'.
'The world needs stability and it needs peace – and dialogue is the way to resolve the nuclear issue in terms of Iran,' the Taoiseach told RTÉ radio.
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'Iran has been a malign actor in the Middle East for quite a long time in terms of supporting Hezbollah, Hamas the Houthis – it's a theocratic autocratic state.
'But there was dialogue on the way between Iran and the United States on that issue, I think that should restart.
'I think Iran should make it very clear that it will not pursue further enrichment of uranium, or indeed progress to developing nuclear bomb capacity.'
Meanwhile, Mr Harris said there was a 'massive effort' at EU level to support citizens and diplomats in Iran and Israel.
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He said the EU was engaging with Germany, France and the UK to persuade the Iranians back into talks.
'It is almost impossible to overstate the potential danger of this, if there ends up being involvement of other countries, or indeed spill-over into other countries,' he said on Thursday.
A medical centre in Israel was hit by a missile fired from Iran (Marc Israel Sellem/Pool via AP)
'Ireland, whilst far away in one way, does obviously have a number of citizens in both countries, have a significant number of troops in Lebanon, is very concerned about the situation in Palestine, so there's quite a lot of moving parts in this.'
He told RTÉ radio: 'Nobody wants to see Iran with nuclear capabilities.
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'Everybody is aware of the dangers that Iran poses, but at the same time, the way you resolve these issues is through the talks that were scheduled to take place and which were obviously ultimately postponed as a result of Israeli (incursion).'
He said Irish embassies had contacted citizens in Iran and Israel on Wednesday who would like to leave when the opportunity arises.
There are around 29 Irish citizens and 12 dependants in Iran, and 200 Irish citizens in Israel.
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'There's the massive effort at a European level to make sure we try to provide support to our own citizens and our own diplomats in what is becoming a really dangerous environment and a really difficult environment in which to operate from and function from as well,' he told RTÉ radio.
He said that as the airspace is closed in Iran, evacuation would mean going over the land border, and for those in Israel it means travelling to Jordan or Egypt.
'There are a number of options available to us. We're working very closely with a number of member states, and we're also having to now, in a very serious way, also look at how we best support our diplomats, because the situation is deteriorating quite significantly in terms of being able to effectively operate in the country, and also obviously safety and security issues,' he said.
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