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Poland says no nationals hurt in Israel-Iran flare-up

13.06.2025 16:00
No Polish citizen has been injured in the latest Israel-Iran hostilities and only a handful are believed to be staying in either country, Deputy Foreign Minister Henryka Mościcka-Dendys said on Friday.
Firefighters, rescue workers and security personnel work around a building that was hit by Israeli air strikes in central Tehran, Iran, June 13, 2025. Israel says it has launched strikes on Irans nuclear programme as part of Operation Rising Lion.
Firefighters, rescue workers and security personnel work around a building that was hit by Israeli air strikes in central Tehran, Iran, June 13, 2025. Israel says it has launched strikes on Iran's "nuclear programme" as part of Operation Rising Lion.Photo: EPA/ABEDIN TAHERKENAREH

Citing the foreign ministry’s Odyseusz traveller registration system, Mościcka-Dendys told reporters that 64 Poles were logged as being in Israel and four in Iran, although officials believe "perhaps a dozen" may actually be in Iran.

"None has suffered any harm to date," she said, adding that the Polish embassies in Tel Aviv and Tehran were in regular contact with them.

Mościcka-Dendys reiterated government advice against travel to the area.

Warsaw has for months discouraged trips to both Israel and Iran and to nearby flashpoints such as the West Bank, Lebanon and Gaza, Mościcka-Dendys noted.

She called on all parties to de-escalate, saying "dialogue is always better than the use of force."

Earlier in the day, officials said that Polish soldiers and diplomats in the Middle East were safe amid the escalating conflict between Israel and Iran.

Interior Minister Tomasz Siemoniak wrote on X that Polish intelligence services were closely monitoring the situation.

Meanwhile, Polish President Andrzej Duda's return flight from his official visit to Singapore was delayed, his office said, after Israel's air strikes on Iran heightened regional tensions and caused widespread air travel disruptions across the Middle East and parts of Europe.

Israel launched a wave of air strikes on Iran early on Friday, saying it targeted nuclear facilities, ballistic missile factories and military commanders in what it called the start of a sustained operation aimed at preventing Tehran from developing a nuclear weapon, the Reuters news agency reported.

In retaliation, Iran launched about 100 drones toward Israeli territory, the Israeli military said.

(jh/gs)

Source: PAP, IAR