On Saturday, the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran, hitting targets across the country.
Tehran launched retaliatory strikes at Israel and U.S. bases across the region in Israel, the UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain and Qatar. 

On Sunday morning,  Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was confirmed to have been killed.

Nearly 3,000 Estonian citizens are in the Middle East, and more than 1,500 are in the conflict zone – the Emirates, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said over the weekend.

Situation escalating

"Air traffic has not resumed and we do not know when it will. The night showed that there is no major de-escalation in the region. Iran is delivering its retaliatory strikes and, frankly, now they are striking everywhere. In essence, this is a historic moment where Iran has very concretely clashed even with its so-called almost friends in the region. So in that sense, there is no positive news," he told the morning show "Terevisioon" on Monday.

He said there are no signs that the situation will calm down in the near future.

"The Iranian regime is like a wounded predator that is now putting everything on the line regardless of who its friends are or are not. And if we look at what President Trump has said, and I had a longer call yesterday with Israel's foreign minister, no one predicts that this will end in the coming days. Rather, we are looking at a longer conflict, and Iran is unpredictable."

The minister said one positive development is that the ministry knows where Estonian citizens are located and can provide them with information via a newly created WhatsApp group.

"Unfortunately, there have also been cases in that group where false information is shared, saying that flights are already departing and people should head to the airport. No one should go anywhere until it is 100 percent certain that flights are actually operating. At the moment, there is no sign of the airspace reopening; rather, we are likely to see the situation escalate in the region. People need to be patient,"Tsahkna said.

"We cannot prohibit people from traveling"

Asked why the Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not issue a specific warning about the region before the school break, despite the buildup of troops from the U.S. in the area, Tsahkna said the ministry cannot prohibit people from traveling.

"We have warnings at different levels. There are completely red countries where we say that under no circumstances should anyone go. We cannot prohibit people from traveling. However, we have constantly shared information that the region is dangerous," he told the show.

The minister said that neither Europe nor most other countries knew in advance that the U.S. and Israel were planning such a large-scale attack on Iran.

"It was a well-kept secret, although yes, we saw that massive forces were being assembled. Initially, it was also interpreted as pressure being put on Iran, meaning the regime, to begin negotiations. But it is not only Estonians who are stuck there; we are talking about thousands and thousands of people who went there on business or for tourism," he said.

Defense minister has left Dubai

Tsahkna said the state cannot currently bring Estonian citizens home. At the same time, some people have travelled from the Emirates to Oman to try and fly home.

"The airport there was open yesterday, but air traffic was heavily disrupted. And if there is no full certainty that some kind of flight connection has been agreed upon, then there is no point in going anywhere. But the current position at the European Union level is also that there is no point in organizing charter flights there, because it is simply not possible to gain access," he outlined.

Tsahkna said that on the first day of the attack, he was in contact with Minister of Defense Hanno Pevkur (Reform), who was in Dubai. He has since reportedly traveled out by land.

However, Tsahkna did not know exactly where the defense minister is now: "I am not sure whether he has reached Estonia, but I know that he was, so to speak, in a safe place."

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