Iran has drawn up contingency plans to shelter as many as 700,000 refugees in the event of a US-led war against Iraq, but on the other side of the border, interior ministry officials said earlier this week.
"We have plans for 16 camps on the Iraqi side of no man's land with room for 700,000 people," state radio quoted deputy interior minister for refugee affairs Ahmad Hosseini, as saying, according to AFP.
However, Hosseini warned Tehran currently had food stocks for just 50,000 refugees, fewer even than the 150,000 the UN High Commissioner for Refugees had asked it to prepare to look after.
He appealed to the international community to avoid military action against Baghdad, which he said risked "driving hundreds of thousands of refugees into exile." (Albawaba.com)
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