London, Jun. 20, (PA Media/dpa/GNA) – Irish political leaders have called for an “immediate de-escalation” between Israel and Iran and for diplomatic talks to restart.
Premier Micheal Martin said Iran should make clear it will not pursue further enrichment of uranium.
Deputy Premier Simon Harris, who is also the foreign minister, 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%, far in excess of the levels required for power stations and a short, technical step away from weapons-grade levels of 90%.
After a missile attack on a hospital in southern Israel, defence minister Israel Katz on Thursday 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 United States by targeting a uranium enrichment facility in Iran.
Asked what role Ireland can play in the crisis, Martin said Ireland and the European Union 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 premier told RTE Radio.
“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, Harris said there was a “massive effort” at EU level to support citizens and diplomats in Iran and Israel.
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.
“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 RTE Radio: “Nobody wants to see Iran with nuclear capabilities.
“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.
“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,” Martin told RTE 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.
GNA
PDC