Australian govt lowers Middle East travel warnings

Canberra, June 17 (IANS) The Australian government on Wednesday lowered travel warnings for several Middle Eastern countries, including Israel and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), after the United States and Iran reached a peace deal.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Penny Wong said that the government has lowered travel advice for Bahrain, Israel, Kuwait, Qatar and the UAE from the highest level four “do not travel” to a level three “reconsider your need to travel” warning, with some areas of Israel remaining at level four.

She said that the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has assessed current conditions in those countries as appropriate for the lower-level warning, but said that Australians should continue to postpone non-essential travel, Xinhua news agency reported.

“If you need to transit these locations, stay as short a time as possible and eliminate unnecessary activities,” Wong said in a joint statement with Matt Thistlethwaite, assistant minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade.

Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Palestine, Syria and Yemen remain under level four “do not travel” warnings for Australians, while Jordan, Oman and Saudi Arabia are also subject to level three warnings.

US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that a deal with Iran had been completed and warned that Tehran would face severe consequences if it sought to develop or acquire a nuclear weapon, while praising Qatar’s role in helping secure the agreement and signalling confidence that the next phase of negotiations would be easier.

Speaking during a bilateral meeting with the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, Trump said the agreement represented a major breakthrough after weeks of tensions in the Middle East.

“We have our deal done with Iran, and it should be successful. It goes to a second stage, which I think will be actually easier. I didn’t want to attack them last week, but we had no choice, and we did it twice, actually, we were doing it a third time, and we were able to not have to do that,” Trump said.

The US President dismissed reports that Washington would provide financial assistance to Iran as part of the arrangement.

“We are not investing any money in Iran, by the way. That rumour that got out there yesterday, it was ridiculous. We have the right to go in someday and do something… or if somebody wants to do something. But we have no obligation to invest money in Iran,” he said.

Trump said the central objective of the agreement was ensuring that Iran never acquires a nuclear weapon.

–IANS

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