By Ismet Mikailogullari
KAPIKOY, Turkey, March 2 (Reuters) – Hundreds of Iranians crossed the border into Turkey on Monday afternoon as the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran expanded, a Reuters witness said, with those arriving speaking of fear in Tehran and queues at petrol stations.
In the morning, Turkey had said day-trip passenger crossings at the three Turkish-Iranian border gates had been mutually suspended, with Turkey only allowing its own citizens and third-country nationals to enter. On Sunday, travellers told Reuters that some Iranian citizens were being stopped from crossing into Turkey.
However, by Monday afternoon Iranians started crossing into Turkey at the Kapikoy border gate, against the backdrop of snow-covered hills in Iran.
“The situation in Tehran is already difficult,” said a man from the Iranian capital, who declined to give his name but said his wife and children were in Istanbul. “There are difficult things in Tehran, bombings. Everyone is scared. But for example, normal people, nothing happened to them.”
He said he had bought household goods on the first day of the war in Tehran but that shops were very crowded.
Binali Kilic, an Iranian Azeri man from the Qazvin area near the Turkish border, said life there was continuing normally but there was constant bombing in military areas that affected people’s lives.
“They’ve withdrawn into themselves. Everyone is in their homes,” Kilic said. “There were sounds of bombing coming from nearby areas that were hit,” he said as people wheeled suitcases out of the border gate under light snow toward waiting minibuses.
“There are no food problems or anything like that. The only concern people have is getting fuel for their trips, near and far. There are queues at petrol stations,” he added.
Earlier, Turkish Trade Minister Omer Bolat said Iran was permitting its own citizens to enter Iran via Turkey, adding that commercial cargo transits at all three gates continued under controlled conditions.
“All our units continue to perform their duties on high alert to ensure the uninterrupted continuation of Turkey’s border crossing services and trade flows,” Bolat said.
(Writing by Daren Butler and Ali Kucukgocmen; Editing by Jonathan Spicer )
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