image source, ISNA/WANA/Reuters
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Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the country’s supreme religious leader, was killed in a joint attack by the United States and Israel in Iran. In addition, it was reported that several high-ranking people including the Iranian Defense Minister, the head of the armed forces were killed in this attack.
In the last 24 hours alone, at least 57 civilians have died in Tehran alone in joint attacks by the US and Israel.
Various countries of the world have expressed their grief and condemnation in this incident. Russian President Vladimir Putin also expressed grief over the assassination of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
In response to the attack by the United States and Israel, Iran counterattacked on Saturday. At the same time, Iran also attacked US bases in the Middle Eastern countries of Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
In this situation, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Bangladesh issued a statement on Sunday. The Bangladesh government has condemned Iran’s counterattack as a violation of the sovereignty of several countries in the Middle East.
But the Bangladesh government’s statement did not mention the name of the United States or Israel anywhere. Also, there was no condemnation of the attack on Iran.
After the release of that statement on Sunday evening, various discussions and criticisms were seen on social media about the position of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the government.
BBC Bangla tried to contact the Foreign Minister of Bangladesh Khalilur Rahman for a comment on this. But it was not possible to talk immediately.
Diplomatic analysts and former diplomats consider such a position of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Bangladesh as ‘one-sided’.
Former diplomat Munsi Faiz Ahmed told BBC Bangla, “Bangladesh’s position should have been very fair in such a situation. We don’t know whether this statement was pressured by someone or the foreign ministry made it on its own”.
Meanwhile, the Foreign Ministry of Bangladesh warned in a statement that the ongoing hostilities will only endanger regional peace, stability and the welfare of the civilian population.
image source, MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS
Which is in Bangladesh’s statement
After the joint attack of the United States and Israel on Iran on Saturday, Iran began to respond. Iran retaliated by targeting first Israel and then all the US bases in the Middle East.
In such a situation, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Bangladesh held an emergency meeting on Saturday evening. The Bangladesh government also issued a statement expressing deep concern about the security of Bangladeshi citizens staying in that region.
There, Bangladesh called upon all parties to exercise maximum restraint, avoid tension and immediately intensify diplomatic efforts.
When the death of Iran’s supreme religious leader Khamenei was confirmed early on Sunday morning, tensions began to increase in the Middle East. The US-Israel attack was strongly protested in various places including Bangladesh’s social media.
Bangladesh’s main opposition party Jamaat-e-Islami also protested in Dhaka on Sunday afternoon.
In this situation, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Bangladesh issued a statement on the incident on Sunday afternoon. Bangladesh has expressed deep concern about the security of Bangladeshi citizens living there after the attack on Iran.
Bangladesh warned in the statement that the ongoing hostilities will only endanger regional peace, stability and the welfare of the civilian population.
The country called on all parties concerned to exercise maximum restraint and return to diplomatic efforts to resolve differences.
In the statement, Bangladesh also condemned the violation of the sovereignty of some countries in the region, including Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
image source, Reuters
What are diplomatic analysts saying?
Basically, after this statement, discussion-criticism was created in Bangladesh. Diplomatic analysts and former diplomats have given mixed reactions to this.
They say that the constitution of Bangladesh states that the position of the country will be against any kind of aggression. But diplomatic analysts also think that Bangladesh has remained quite cautious on this issue.
Some of the former diplomats described the Bangladesh foreign ministry’s statement as one-sided.
International relations analyst Professor Sahab Enam Khan told BBC Bangla, “The constitution says to oppose aggression and to be in favor of peaceful resolution of international disputes. At the same time, there should be a stand against someone who uses force illegally”.
He felt that the present government should have mentioned the names of all the parties in the statement on this issue. Condemning the attacks from both sides at the same time. But that was not done by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Bangladesh.
Munshi Faiz Ahmed, Bangladesh’s ambassador to China, told BBC Bangla that Iran was attacked earlier in the recent incident. The United States and Israel have invaded Iran. When Iran was attacked, they responded.
He was saying that when Iran is attacked using US bases in the Middle East, when Iran is being attacked, it certainly has the right to resist.
Questioning whether this statement of Bangladesh has come under pressure from anyone, he said that the aggression was carried out earlier by Israel and the United States. We do not understand why our Ministry of Foreign Affairs is taking such a stand there. We did not get the kind of statement we expected from the Ministry of External Affairs.”
image source, Reuters
Three people including a Bangladeshi were killed
Iran’s counter-attack damaged US bases in various countries in the Middle East, including Dubai Airport, Qatar, Kuwait. On Sunday, it was seen that Iran retaliated against Israel.
Three people, including a Bangladeshi, were reportedly killed in a retaliatory strike by Iran in the United Arab Emirates.
According to the Ministry of Defense in the United Arab Emirates, a Bangladeshi, Pakistani and Nepali citizen were killed in this attack. At least 58 people were injured.
According to the Ministry of Defence, they detected 165 ballistic missiles and destroyed 152 of them. Two cruise missiles were also intercepted.
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