Thirty-five of the 47 Portuguese who chose to leave Iran after the attack on Israel on Saturday have left for Istanbul, where they will catch a flight to Lisbon later today, according to the Secretary of State for Portuguese Communities.
According to José Cesário, the remaining eight Portuguese should also arrive in Istanbul tonight or Tuesday and then travel to Lisbon.
Those Portuguese who wanted to leave Iran after the country’s attacks on Israel are returning by their own means, on commercial airlines, and have not yet required the intervention of the Portuguese state.
José Cesário stressed that the situation in Israel “has improved, there are commercial flights and schools are open”.
On Sunday, the Secretary of State for Portuguese Communities assured that “everything is ready if it becomes necessary” to remove Portuguese expatriates from Israel.
According to José Cesário, in Israel “there is a community of around 30,000 citizens with Portuguese nationality” and “some Portuguese expatriates on tourism or working”, in the latter case 13 people were mentioned.
The Portuguese government is “attentive to the evolution of the situation” and is “all prepared if an evacuation is necessary”, and has the means to do so, he said.
He also stressed that this monitoring of the situation will be done in “conjunction with the European Union partners”.
Iran launched a drone attack against Israel “from its territory” on Saturday night, the Israeli army spokesman confirmed in a televised speech.
In a message on the social network X, the Iranian mission to the UN claimed that, “in accordance with Article 51 of the UN Charter on self-defense, Iran’s military action was a response to the Zionist regime’s aggression” against Iranian diplomatic facilities in Damascus.
Tensions between the two countries have risen in recent weeks following the bombing of the Iranian consulate in Damascus on April 1, in which seven members of the Revolutionary Guard and six Syrian citizens died.