Tánaiste says ‘world on brink of extraordinary destabilisation’

By Cillian Sherlock, PA

The world is “on the brink” of extraordinary destabilisation in the Middle East, the Tánaiste has said.

It comes as the EU Foreign Affairs Council has called an emergency meeting to discuss a reaction to the “escalating and extremely dangerous” situation between Israel and Iran.

Simon Harris, who is also foreign affairs minister, said the EU will have to discuss working together to evacuate its citizens from the region.

His remarks came before he was due to attend the virtual foreign affairs council meeting on Tuesday.

He said: “I think a big focus of that meeting is going to be on working together in the European Union to evacuate European citizens if and when it becomes possible or safe to do so.

“We have a very small number of citizens in Iran. Most of them are long-term residents of Iran.

“We have a larger – but still relatively small number – in Israel at the moment.”

Mr Harris added: “Obviously, the airspace is closed, and moving across land borders is potentially treacherous, and I think it will be really important, as we have done at an EU level before, that we work together to see if and when it may be safe to make an intervention for any citizen seeking to leave, and how we can collaborate at a European level.”

Speaking to reporters in Dublin, Mr Harris said it was “almost impossible to overstate the serious level of danger here”.

He added: “To say the world is on the brink of an extraordinarily destabilising situation in the region would be absolutely a statement of fact, if not an understatement.”

Mr Harris added that Irish diplomats have been “working intensively” in Tel Aviv and Tehran, as well as engaging with European counterparts.

Mr Harris said Ireland and Europe will continue to call for de-escalation. He said Iran had “consistently been a source of danger in the world”, adding that the state should not be able to develop nuclear weapons.