FO sets up emergency cell for Pakistani’s in Iran amid rising tensions

ISLAMABAD: Following Israel’s overnight attacks against Iran, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has ordered the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to immediately set up a crisis management cell to protect Pakistani nationals and pilgrims already in Iran.

The Foreign Office on Friday announced that it has set up the crisis unit to oversee emergency measures for the safety and potential repatriation of Pakistani citizens, particularly pilgrims, as tensions continue to be high in the area.

The prime minister directed that all means be mobilised and available to protect Pakistani nationals and facilitate their return safely, underlining that the Foreign Office and Pakistan‘s embassy in Tehran should stay on their toes until things return to normal.

The Foreign Office announced that the Pakistani embassy in Tehran has been directed to offer the fullest support and services to nationals in Iran.

The embassy has also released an emergency hotline number to help Pakistanis in need. Israel bombed Iran on Friday, killing Iran‘s several senior Iranian commanders and six nuclear experts.

Israel said it targeted Iran‘s nuclear centers, ballistic missile factories, and military commanders to stop Tehran from acquiring an atomic weapon.

At least 20 top Iranian commanders, among them the commander of the Revolutionary Guards, Aerospace Force Commander Amir Ali Hajizadeh, were killed in Israel‘s attack on Iran on Friday, two regional sources informed Reuters.

Hossein Salami served as commander-in-chief of Iran‘s elite Revolutionary Guards Corps, or IRGC. Iran‘s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, named Salami, who was born in 1960, commander of the IRGC in 2019.

Mohammad Bagheri, a veteran IRGC commander, Major General Bagheri was the head of Iran‘s armed forces‘ staff in 2016. Born in 1960, Bagheri was enlisted in the Guards during the Iran-Iraq War of the 1980s.

Amir Ali Hajizadeh was the commander of the Revolutionary Guards Aerospace Force. Israel has named him as the key commander responsible for ordering aerial attacks against its borders.

In 2020, Hajizadeh accepted responsibility for the shootdown of a Ukrainian passenger plane, which came just days after Iran fired missile attacks on US targets in Iraq in retaliation for the US drone attack that killed Qassem Soleimani.

Gholmali Rashid was the commander of the IRGC‘s Khatam al Anbia headquarters. He had earlier served as deputy chief of staff of the Iranian Armed Forces, and battled for Iran in the 1980s war against Iraq.

The other four scientists who were killed in Friday‘s attacks include Abdolhamid Manouchehr, Ahmad Reza Zolfaghari, Amirhossein Feghi, and Motalibizadeh.