• The move comes in light of “current developments in the region,” the Emirates News Agency reported

Arab News

DUBAI: The UAE’s Foreign Ministry announced on Thursday a ban on citizens travelling to Iran, Lebanon and Iraq.

The move comes in light of “current developments in the region,” the Emirates News Agency reported.

All citizens present in the mentioned countries should leave and return to the UAE as soon as possible, the ministry said.

Iran said on Thursday it would respond with “long and painful strikes” on US positions if Washington renewed attacks, and also reasserted its control over the Strait of Hormuz, complicating US plans for a coalition to reopen the waterway.

Meanwhile, Israeli strikes on south Lebanon killed nine people including two children, the health ministry said Thursday, shortly after the president decried what he described as ongoing Israeli violations of a nearly two-week ceasefire.