Balkan Countries Express Alarm Following Israel’s Attack on Iran
Source: Balkan Insight
Balkan countries voiced dismay over the implications of Israel’s attack on Iran’s nuclear sites and senior security officials – amid fears that the crisis will deepen.
“Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government is trying to drag our region and the entire world into disaster with its reckless, aggressive and lawless actions,” Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday. Erdogan also called on the international community to end the conflict.
Israel launched air strikes across Iran on Friday, saying it was targeting Iran’s nuclear capability. The Israeli attacks killed Hossein Salami, chief of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards, other senior military figures and nuclear scientists, Iran announced. Tehran pledged to respond to the attacks with a “severe punishment”.
Serbia’s President, Aleksandar Vucic, said he was most worried about the implications for oil prices.
“Just when you think that the price of oil is going to go down and that everything is going to be easy, nice and smooth, then something like this happens and [the] oil [price] goes sky high,” Vucic told media in Prague where he is attending GLOBSEC Forum, Serbia’s public broadcaster reported.
“I am afraid it will cause additional economic instability, additional volatility in the political sense, nervousness everywhere in the world; I just hope that all this will end as soon as possible,” Vucic continued.
Croatia also voiced concern.
The staff of the Croatian embassies in Tehran and Tel Aviv are safe, the Foreign Ministry said on Friday. “The Republic of Croatia expresses serious concern over the continued escalation of the security situation in the Middle East,” the ministry wrote in a statement.
Slovenian President Natasa Pirc Musar accused Israel of “escalating” the situation. “The Israeli attacks on Iran represent an escalation of the already tense and difficult situation in the Middle East and are leading nowhere,” she wrote on X.
Leaders of Bosnia and Herzegovina have remained silent for now but Husein Kavazovic, Grand Mufti of the Islamic Community in Bosnia and Herzegovina, condemned the attack on Iran.
“While there’s no end in sight to the suffering of the people of Gaza, and while we all hope for the success of international mediations to achieve peace and end the blockade and starvation of innocent civilians, irresponsible politicians are further escalating violence and dragging the world into a new spiral of violence,” Kavazovic said in a press release.
Bosnia’s ambassador to Iran, Nijaz Cardaklija, confirmed that all Bosnian citizens in Iran are safe, while only one person has requested evacuation, N1 news channel reported.
Greece said it will hold a crisis security meeting on Friday held by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis. Greece also warned its citizens to remain in Israel to be on the alert.
Other countries in the region also warned their citizens in Israel and Iran to be careful.
North Macedonia’s Foreign Ministry issued a travel warning and advised its citizens in Israel and Iran to follow national emergency portals there and follow the instructions of these countries’ competent institutions. “We appeal to all our citizens to refrain from any travel to the countries of this region until the security situation improves,” the Foreign Ministry said.
Kosovo’s Foreign Ministry on Friday advised Kosovo citizens “currently in Israel to avoid unnecessary travel and stay in safe places” considering the ” worsening security situation in Israel and the region”.
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