Greece’s relevant migration and asylum minister on Monday said the government and state services will exercise greater scrutiny in cases where someone reaches Greek territory and claims to be an Iranian fleeing persecution from that specific country, which is now being targeted by Israeli and US air strikes aimed at military infrastructure and the theocratic state’s top leadership.

Speaking during a television appearance on the Ant1 broadcaster, Minister Thanos Plevris added that despite the current developments in Iran, “it is too early to talk about (migrant) flows,” stressing that “such issues arise when situations are prolonged. A prolonged situation will create a problem for Europe as a whole.”

At the same time, he clarified that he expects an impact on irregular arrivals to Greece, given that Iran borders Turkey. “Iranians will obviously head toward Turkey. When someone gets there, they subsequently aspire to reach Europe. We believe, however, that such a discussion belongs at a later stage…but flows increase when a situation becomes entrenched and remains volatile for a long period of time.”

Migration & Asylum Minister Thanos Plevris

‘Even greater attention’ to asylum seekers

Regarding the Turkish side, he said so far there has been no communication between Athens and Ankara on this specific development. He also explained that Greece will strictly handle asylum requests from, as in some cases potential applicants may support the current Iranian regime.

“You don’t know whether someone is arriving here for economic reasons or whether they are being persecuted by the regime. We are monitoring the situation because they could also be Iranians who belong to the regime itself. If asylum applications are to be accepted, even greater attention must be paid due to the change in circumstances. When we enter into such situations, we enter an even higher alert, because there is concern that people arriving from a region in turmoil may be aligned with the aggressors or with those who want to carry out acts of sabotage, rather than being among those persecuted,” he said.