Iranian Foreign Ministry Pursuing Issue of Detained Teachers in UAE: MP
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – The Iranian foreign ministry is actively pursuing the issue of nine Iranian teachers arrested in the United Arab Emirates, a senior member of the Iranian parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Commission said.
Speaking to the Tasnim News Agency on Sunday, Seyed Hossein Naqavi Hosseini said the teachers working in overseas Iranian schools are dispatched every year in September to start their classes in October, but some host countries delay issuing visas, which causes some problems.
Efforts made by the foreign ministry to find the reason behind the arrest of the teachers revealed that the Arab country has arrested them for lack of work permits, he said.
However, the official added, the ministry is pursuing the case to secure the teachers’ release and obtain work permits for them.
Iran on Sunday summoned the charge d’affaires of the United Arab Emirates in Tehran to protest at the arrests.
Khalilollah Babalou, the head of the Iranian Education Ministry’s Center for International Affairs and Overseas Schools, told Tasnim earlier that the center is making efforts to secure the teachers’ release.
He said consultations on the issue are underway and predicted that the teachers would be released on Monday.
According to Babalou, the UAE says it has arrested the Iranian nationals because their permits were issued for working in Dubai but they had been teaching in Al Ain.