Iran-Israel war: countries continue to evacuate citizens

Countries around the world are taking measures to evacuate their citizens from Israel and Iran as the two nations enter the seventh day of their air war and airspace in the region remains closed.

A week of Israeli air and missile strikes against its major rival has wiped out the top echelon of Iran’s military command, damaged its nuclear capabilities and killed hundreds of people, while Iranian retaliatory strikes have killed at least two dozen civilians in Israel.

Here are some of the countries whose citizens have left:

AUSTRALIA

The Australian government evacuated by land a small group of the 1,200 Australians seeking to leave Israel on Wednesday, Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong said on Thursday.

Around 2,000 Australians in Iran have registered for assistance.

AUSTRIA

48 Austrians have left Israel or neighboring Jordan, out of the 200 who reported to the Tel Aviv embassy, the Foreign Ministry said. Around 100 Austrians have requested to leave Iran. 44 Austrian and EU citizens have been evacuated towards Turkey and Armenia, it added.

BULGARIA

Bulgaria has evacuated 17 diplomats and their families from Iran to Azerbaijan and will repatriate them by land and air, the Bulgarian government said. An administration at the Bulgarian embassy in Tehran is moving temporarily to Baku.

Israel-Iran air war enters second week, Europe pushes diplomacy

CHINA

China has evacuated more than 1,600 citizens from Iran and hundreds more from Israel, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson said on Thursday. Several thousand Chinese nationals are thought to reside in Iran, according to state media reports.

CZECH REPUBLIC

A flight with 66 people evacuated from Israel had landed near Prague, Czech Defence Minister Jana Cernochova said.

FRANCE

France will arrange a convoy by the end of the week from Iran to the Turkish or Armenian borders, French foreign minister Jean-Noel Barrot said on Thursday.

French citizens in Israel can board buses starting Friday morning from the Jordanian border, with a flight chartered from Amman, Barrot said.

GERMANY

345 German citizens have left the Middle East region, the foreign ministry said, after the country provided charter flights to Germany.

GREECE

Greece has evacuated 16 nationals and their families by land from Iran to Azerbaijan and is now working on their repatriation to Greece, the foreign ministry said on Thursday.

INDIA

India said on Wednesday it has launched “Operation Sindhu” to evacuate Indian nationals from Iran. 110 Indian students have been evacuated from northern Iran into Armenia on June 17, India’s foreign ministry said.

ITALY

Italy is organizing a charter flight from Egypt on June 22 to allow its citizens to leave Israel if they want to.

29 of the about 500 Italian nationals leaving in Iran already left the country on Wednesday with assistance from the government, a diplomatic source said.

JAPAN

Japan’s government said on Thursday it would send two Self-Defense Forces transport aircraft to Djibouti in preparation for the evacuation of Japanese nationals from Iran and Israel.

Japanese embassies in Israel and Iran are preparing to evacuate citizens to neighbouring countries by bus as early as Thursday.

NEW ZEALAND

New Zealand temporarily closed its Tehran embassy and evacuated two staff and their families by land to Azerbaijan.

POLAND

A group of Polish citizens evacuated from Iran landed in

Warsaw on Thursday morning, ending the evacuation from the country, the Foreign Ministry said.

The first plane evacuated from Israel landed in Warsaw on Wednesday morning and a second one is expected on Thursday afternoon from Amman, with 65 people on board.

PORTUGAL

Portugal has temporarily shut its embassy in Iran and evacuated four of its citizens via Azerbaijan.

It has received 130 repatriation requests from citizens in Israel and is organising a repatriation flight, expected to land in Portugal later on Thursday, the foreign ministry said.

SERBIA

A group of 100 Serbs have fled Israel via Egypt, ambassador Miroljub Petrovic said on Thursday.

SIERRA LEONE

36 citizens were evacuated to Armenia, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.

SLOVAKIA

The first evacuation flight with 73 people, 25 tourists and five family members of Slovak diplomats working in Tel Aviv arrived in Bratislava on Monday, Slovak authorities said. The foreign ministry said on Friday it would temporarily close its embassy in Tehran and was fully evacuating staff from the country.

SOUTH KOREA

Eighteen South Korean nationals and two of their family members who are Iranian nationals were evacuated by land from Iran, South Korea’s foreign ministry said.

TAIWAN

36 Taiwanese have been evacuated from Israel via the land crossing with Jordan, while three Taiwanese have left Iran via the land border with Turkey, Taiwan’s foreign ministry said.

UNITED STATES

The United States is working to evacuate U.S. citizens wishing to leave Israel by arranging flights and cruise ship departures, U.S. ambassador Mike Huckabee said in a post on X on Wednesday.

VIETNAM

Vietnam’s foreign ministry told its citizens in Israel and Iran to get ready for evacuation and 18 Vietnamese citizens have already been evacuated from Iran.