(Bloomberg) -- France instructed its citizens visiting Iran to leave the country as soon as possible amid increased fears of war following the killing of senior Hamas and Hezbollah leaders.
The warning was prompted by the heightened risk of military escalation, the French foreign ministry said in a statement on its website on Friday. It reiterated that visitors could face arbitrary detention, unfair trials and a lack of exit options due to the potential closure of Iranian airspace.
Regional tensions have skyrocketed since Hamas’ political chief Ismail Haniyeh was killed in an explosion in Tehran during a visit to attend the inauguration of Iran’s new president on July 31.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei blamed Israel for the killing and said he had a “duty to seek vengeance.” A retaliation order has been issued, the New York Times reported, citing three Iranian officials it didn’t identify.
Israel hasn’t commented on Haniyeh’s death, but has vowed to eliminate all Hamas leaders following the group’s attack on the country on Oct. 7 in which its fighters killed 1,200 people and took about 250 hostage.
Haniyeh died hours after Fuad Shukr, a senior Hezbollah commander, was killed in an Israeli strike on Lebanon’s capital of Beirut. That attack was a response to a rocket assault in the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights over the weekend, which killed 12 children and teenagers playing football.
Hezbollah, which like Hamas is backed by Iran, denied responsibility. The US has designated both groups as terrorist organizations.
While France is advising its citizens to refrain from traveling to Lebanon and Israel, it has so far refrained from urging them to leave those countries immediately.
The French interior ministry has meanwhile reinforced protection of the Jewish community as well as Israeli athletes currently attending the Olympic games in Paris, citing the “very high level of tension in the Middle East.”
--With assistance from Patrick Sykes.
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