No more registered Swiss travellers in the Middle East crisis region
Keystone-SDA
All travellers from Switzerland registered in the Travel Admin app have apparently been able to return home. The Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) is not aware of any travellers who are still stranded.
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Several airlines have resumed flight operations at the region’s international airports in the Middle East, the FDFA announced on Wednesday in response to an enquiry from the Keystone-SDA news agency. There are currently daily scheduled flights from the United Arab Emirates to Switzerland.
This means that the situation in the travel sector has calmed down to some extent. In the first days of the war at the beginning of March, over 4,000 stranded travellers from Switzerland registered on the Travel app set up by the FDFA.
According to the FDFA, the helpline and Swiss diplomatic representations in the affected region are also quiet. These recorded a low volume of enquiries, which mainly focused on travel advice and consular services. All Swiss representations in the Gulf States are in operation.
Switzerland’s protecting power
Switzerland continues to act as a protecting power for the United States in Iran, according to the FDFA. The communication channel between the US and Iran is open and available. For reasons of discretion, however, the government is not commenting further on whether and how it is being used.
Under the protecting power mandate, Switzerland has represented the interests of the US since the 1980s. The mandate dates back to the hostage crisis of 1979: after the Islamic Republic was proclaimed in Iran, students occupied the US embassy in Tehran and took staff hostage. The US subsequently broke off all diplomatic relations with Iran.
A year later, Switzerland offered to represent the interests of the US in Iran. Since 1980, it has thus acted as a “messenger” between Washington and Tehran, taking on diplomatic and consular tasks.
Translated from German by AI/jdp
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