The Netherlands Has Moved Its Tehran Embassy Staff to Azerbaijan
Foreign Affairs Minister Tom Berendsen announced on March 10 that Dutch diplomatic staff have been relocated to the Azerbaijani capital Baku due to escalating safety risks in Iran.
The Netherlands has evacuated its embassy staff from Tehran, moving them temporarily to Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan. Foreign Affairs Minister Tom Berendsen of the CDA announced the move on March 10, saying the decision was made because of growing safety risks for Dutch diplomatic personnel as American and Israeli attacks on Iran continue to intensify.
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What happened
Berendsen announced that the operations of the Dutch embassy in Iran would be temporarily relocated to Baku due to increasing risks to staff safety. Ambassador Emiel de Bont and his team have already arrived safely in Azerbaijan. The minister said he had spoken directly with the ambassador and expressed his appreciation for the team's commitment under difficult circumstances.
The Dutch embassy in Tehran had already been closed since March 1, following the outbreak of American and Israeli strikes on Iran. The embassy had also been unable to provide meaningful consular assistance for several years prior due to the overall security situation in the country.
No timeline has been given for a return. A decision on whether embassy staff can go back to Iran will only be made once the security situation allows for it.
The broader situation
The relocation reflects how much the conflict has escalated since fighting began on February 28. US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on March 10 that the United States was carrying out the most intensive strikes on Iran since the war began, deploying the most combat aircraft, bombers and attacks in a single day. He added that Iran had fired the lowest number of missiles in any 24-hour period of the conflict, suggesting its military capacity is weakening.
The Netherlands is not the only country pulling back its diplomatic presence. Azerbaijan also withdrew its diplomatic staff from Iran in early March, citing safety concerns following drone strikes in the Azerbaijani exclave of Nakhchivan that left four people injured and damaged infrastructure.
The situation in Iran has also created serious difficulties for Dutch nationals still inside the country. The Dutch embassy had previously warned that Dutch citizens in Iran could be arrested without clear reason, and that leaving the country by air was not possible due to the closed airspace. Those trying to leave were advised to cross into Turkey or Armenia overland.
A difficult relationship
The move also comes against the backdrop of a recent diplomatic dispute between the Netherlands and Iran. In late February, Iranian authorities at Tehran's Imam Khomeini International Airport forcibly took the diplomatic bag of a Dutch diplomat, a move the Netherlands described as a violation of the Vienna Convention. The Netherlands summoned the Iranian ambassador for an explanation, and the incident had already put significant strain on the bilateral relationship before the evacuation decision was made.
EU Council President António Costa warned this week that Russia is currently the only winner of the Iran war, as rising energy prices are filling the Russian war chest and military resources that could have been deployed in Ukraine are being redirected to the Middle East.
