In a statement released on Monday, the Islamic Republic’s embassy in Ukraine and its accredited embassy in Moldova asked all Iranian citizens in Moldova’s Transnistria to leave that region immediately considering the continuation of war in Ukraine and the possibility of the spread of conflict to that region.
Wishing health for the Iranian nationals residing in Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova, the embassy said, “Those fellow (Iranian) citizens residing in the Republic of Moldova whose continued presence in that country is not necessary in the current circumstances are asked to leave the Moldovan territory.”
The Moldovan authorities say they are sensitive to any sign of growing tensions in Transnistria, an unrecognized Moscow-backed sliver of land bordering southwestern Ukraine, especially since Russia attacked Ukraine on February 24.
Russia has had troops permanently based in the region since the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s. Ukraine fears Transnistria could be used as a launchpad for new attacks on its soil.