Fleeing airstrikes, Iranians seek relief in bordering Armenia, Azerbaijan

Описание: (23 Jun 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Meghri, Armenia - 23 June 2025
1. Various of people walking with luggage at Armenian-Iranian border
2. SOUNDBITE (English) name not given, Tehran resident:
"We are under attack, we are a country that is under attack, so we are sad and we are mad, meanwhile."
3. People standing near bus
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Name not given, Tehran resident:
"Same as past. It has no difference. Because this war is not the same as World War II. It's a war in the sky, not on the ground. So, people don't feel anything, because everything is in the sky."
5. Man boarding bus
6. Bus leaving
7. People at Armenian-Iranian border
8. Woman standing with luggage
9. Taxi drivers loading luggage in car
10. SOUNDBITE (Armenian) Andranik Harutyunyan, Armenian living in Iran:
"Areas next to the government (buildings) are being bombed. But they don’t touch cities. It is calm in the cities. The only thing is that the price of everything has sharply increased."
11. People walking with luggage
12. SOUNDBITE (Armenian) Andranik Harutyunyan, Armenian living in Iran:
"Until last night, when we were there, there was no shortage of anything, fuel, food. The supermarkets were full, but everything was expensive, very expensive."

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Astara border checkpoint, Azerbaijan - 23 June 2025
13. Various of people crossing at border checkpoint
14. Various of people walking inside border crossing point
15. Various of people standing at passport control

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Baku, Azerbaijan - 23 June 2025
16. SOUNDBITE (Farsi) Seyyed Jafar Aghaei, Charge d'Affaires of the Iranian Embassy in Azerbaijan:
"Unfortunately, after the Zionist regime’s aggression, the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency belatedly announced that they have had no evidence of a systematic effort by Iran to acquire nuclear weapons. By providing incorrect and incomplete information, Mr. Grossi betrayed the cause of non-proliferation, and we consider him an accomplice in this aggression by the Zionist regime."
17. Wide of news conference
STORYLINE:
With ongoing airstrikes in Iran and rising concerns of a broader conflict, Iranians are making their way toward their country’s borders with Armenia, Azerbaijan and Turkey, many hoping to wait out the uncertainty back home.

Among them was Andranik Harutyunyan, an Iranian Armenian from Isfahan who arrived in Armenia through the Meghri checkpoint on Monday, and was planning to live in Armenia temporarily.

The 84-year-old said he had not visited the Armenian capital, Yerevan, in 25 years.

“Areas next to the government (buildings) are being bombed. But they don’t touch cities. It is calm in the cities,” he said, stressing that most ethnic Armenians in Iran did not want to leave their homes.

“Up until last night, the supermarkets were full of food and goods. The only thing is that prices are high,” he said of the situation in Iran.

Azerbaijani media has reported a number of foreign citizens crossing the Iranian-Azerbaijani border before traveling to the airport in the Azerbaijani capital of Baku.

Azerbaijan’s land borders have remained closed since the Covid-19 pandemic.

Officials opened the southern border checkpoint with Iran in response to the ongoing conflict, allowing those with special permission from the authorities to cross.

On Monday, the Charge d'Affaires of the Iranian Embassy in Azerbaijan, Seyyed Jafar Aghaei, said the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) had "betrayed the cause of non-proliferation... by providing incorrect and incomplete information."





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