“Everything and everyone is ok.” That’s the word from three contractors working through UK IT and telecoms recruiter First Point Group in Iran, where political demonstrations and rioting in the past few days have captured the world media spotlight.

Graham Packer, general manager of First Point’s Dubai office, told Recruiter that the three contractors, who are working for a global telecoms company in Tehran, Iran’s capital, have experienced “some changes to their working hours” because of the turmoil.

“The client is sending the guys home early. They have to be home by 5pm and they have to observe a curfew from that time onwards, for their own safety. The engineers live in apartments roughly 500m from where the main rioting is taking place, I am told,” Packer says. “The client is very sensible, and has a substantial business and experience in the Middle East.”

The contractors are Malaysian. One wrote to Packer, saying, “I am fine…Work and life is normal, we don’t feel any emergency here.”