Due to the escalation of the conflict between Iran, Israel and the USA, many BiH citizens who live and work in the countries of the Middle East are also worried. Air traffic has been suspended, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Bosnia and Herzegovina says that they are monitoring the situation, are in contact with the diplomatic network and are ready for the eventual evacuation of our citizens.
Ambassador of Bosnia and Herzegovina to Iran, Nijaz Čardaklija, points out that there are plans for the evacuation of our citizens, but that they have not yet been activated and that in case of escalation and intensified attacks on Tehran, citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina will be ready to leave the territory of Iran. Čardaklija also states that civilian objects, including a hospital, were hit in the attacks in Tehran yesterday.
“Yesterday there was an attack on the Iranian Radio and Television building, we have two citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina who work there, they were not at work yesterday, in total we have 4 people in Tehran, in Isfahan we have one colleague who is a coach in a local club, we are in contact with them every day. I can only follow from the media what is happening far from Tehran, in some cities in the south and I have no information there and there are no citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina there.”
The situation in the Middle East is worrisome, but no country has yet evacuated any of its citizens, states the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Elmedin Konaković. He also adds that a promise was obtained through diplomatic channels with Saudi Arabia to provide support in obtaining visas for BiH citizens, in case of eventual land evacuation. However, everything is pending.
“There are about 1,000 people in the Emirates, about 300 in Qatar, about 100 in Kuwait and there are still those who report directly to the ministry and the embassies, still no one is doing evacuations, the airspace is still closed, there were reports that there were some flights in Oman, but they did not turn out to be true, some planes were canceled in Abu Dhabi this morning, the situation with air transport is very unstable.”
This morning, some planes were overbooked in Abu Dhabi and cancelled, the situation with air transport is very unstable. The Director of the Bosnia and Herzegovina Air Navigation Services Agency, Davorin Primorac, announced that four BHANSA air traffic controllers are in the area affected by the closure of airspace. We did not receive any more information from BHANSA today. The consequences of the escalation of the conflict in Iran and unrest in the Middle East are already being felt in BiH.
Analysts predict a rapid increase in oil prices, and therefore a general increase in prices.
“This impact should not be reflected immediately because there are stocks, but in the coming weeks and perhaps months we could expect fuel prices to rise. When it comes to other prices of products and services, it is very likely that they will give excuses that they are forced to increase prices due to rising fuel costs, but these excuses generally do not hold up because we have had low fuel prices for a long time, and prices have continued to rise, so our prices are the result of greed, or abuse of the market situation,” the economist Igor Gavran explained.
The consequences of the conflict between Israel and the US on the one hand and Iran on the other, according to analysts’ estimates, will only be reflected on the rest of the world in the days to come.
