A Hungarian motorcyclist from Győr has been banned from Iran for 10 years after unknowingly passing through a zone where an experimental nuclear reactor is operating. Tensions are high in the ongoing Israel-Iran conflict, and Csaba Gáti, according to Telex, was detained, searched, and interrogated after being found in the area. 

The Hungarian citizen had been on a 15,000-kilometer motorcycle tour in the Middle East and chronicling his journey through Iran on Facebook. Citing RTL, the portal stated that Gati’s detention actually occurred weeks before the outbreak of the current armed conflict between Iran and Israel.

Iranian authorities flagged Gáti due to his use of a drone, camera, and satellite navigation device. Thinking he was a spy conducting reconnaissance on their nuclear facilities, the authorities kept him under constant surveillance for days and searched his belongings every three hours at night.

Gáti somehow managed to get word to his wife that he had been detained, and an escape was being planned through the Hungarian embassy in Tehran. However, the authorities released him after the fourth day on the condition that he travel directly to the United Arab Emirates. To do so, he had to drive his motorcycle more than 1,300 kilometers without any break and get on a ferry to the UAE. 

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade has not answered any questions from the press on the matter nor offered up any statement. 

Upon returning home to Hungary, Gáti was hit by a car, destroying his motorcycle but suffering only minor injuries himself.