Centre closely monitoring situation: V Muraleedharan on US-Iran tensions

As the tensions continued to remain high in the Gulf region following the killing of Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani in a US air raid last week, Minister of State for External Affairs, V Muraleedharan on Wednesday said that Centre is closely monitoring the situation.

"In view of the prevailing situation in the Gulf country, the Centre is closely monitoring the developments in the Gulf region. External Affairs Minister (EAM) has talked to his counterparts in Jordan, Oman, Qatar, France, UAE and has also talked to Foreign minister of Iran and the American Secretary of State," he said while speaking to reporters here.

The MoS also said that India has issued a travel advisory for its citizens to avoid non-essential travel to Iraq.

Early on Wednesday, Iran launched more than a dozen missiles on US targets in Iraq -- first at the Ain Al-Asad airbase in Anbar province and another one at Erbil, which falls in the Kurdistan region.

The strikes came hours after the funeral of Soleimani whose killing in a US air raid last week intensified tensions in the Gulf region.

Countries including the UK have condemned Iran's strikes and have urged Tehran to pursue urgent de-escalation.