Foreign minister Mohamad Hasan, also known as Tok Mat, said that two or three of the number were students.
“We advised the Malaysians to return, but some do not want to, so 13 are still in Iran. We have asked them to sign an indemnity stating that the Malaysian government cannot be blamed if anything happens to them,” he said in the Dewan Rakyat.
He was responding to a supplementary question from Khlir Nor (PN-Ketereh), who asked the minister to outline the evacuation plan for Malaysians in Iran and other countries potentially affected by the conflict between Iran and the US, as well as the number of Malaysians in the Islamic republic.
Mohamad said that all staff and family members of Malaysian diplomats in Tehran were asked to return on Jan 18 and Feb 2 through a consultation plan.
He also advised Malaysians against travelling to Iran for now unless they have important business.
He said Malaysia remained consistent in wanting peace, and that any country that acted with aggression could not be accepted and would continue to be condemned.
“We practise a non-aligned policy, we uphold peace. We condemn anyone who resorts to violence, for whatever reason, because it brings harm and destruction to the country being attacked. That is our stance,” he said, expressing hope that negotiations between Iran and the US would proceed smoothly, reducing the risk of war.
Yesterday, US vice-president JD Vance told Iran to take Washington’s threats of military action “seriously”, a day after president Donald Trump appeared to build the case for war in his State of the Union address.
As US forces mass in the Middle East, Trump claimed in his speech to Congress on Tuesday that Iran was seeking to develop missiles that could strike the US, AFP reported.
Trump also accused the Islamic republic, whose negotiators will meet US officials in Geneva today, of having “sinister nuclear ambitions” and working to rebuild a nuclear programme that was targeted by US strikes last year.
Vance said that while Trump was going to try to get Iran to make a deal “diplomatically”, the US president also had the right to use military action.