Almost 4000 Australians requesting help to evacuate Israel and Iran

There are almost 4000 Australians and their family members in Iran and Israel who have registered with the Australian government requesting assistance with evacuation.

Troops at RAAF Base Amberley in Queensland board a transport plane to take them to the Middle East to assist Australians who are stuck there. Picture: ADF/AFP

Almost 4000 Australians and their family members in Iran and Israel have registered with the Australian government to request assistance with evacuation, the government says, with yet another ratchet-up in tensions as the US joined the Mid-East conflict.

The government has so far assisted just under 50 people to evacuate from Tel Aviv to Amman in Jordan by bus, a government source said.

Defence Minister Richard Marles said the government was ready to help evacuate all Australians and family members if and when the airspaces over both countries were opened up again.

“We do have civilian aircraft chartered and ready to go in the event that airspace opens up over Iran and Israel,” Mr Marles told Sky News on Sunday.

“And right now, that is the biggest constraint here; airspace over both countries is closed.

“We have a C-17 and a KC-30, which both can take hundreds of passengers, placed in Al Minhad, which is just outside of Dubai.

“We normally have a footprint of about 40 people at the base that we operate out of at Al Minhad – that’s been raised to about 300.

“And there are people there with various capabilities, depending on the scenarios, to provide assistance.

“So we really are poised to provide whatever assistance we can in the event that airspace opens up, which will really be the main opportunity to make a dent on those numbers.”

He said there were about 2600 Australians in Iran and 1200 in Israel who had registered with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade for assistance.

A government source said more buses to evacuate people from Israel were being planned.

They said the situation in Iran was more complicated and that consular teams were stationed at the Iran-Azerbaijan border to aid any Australians who did make it to the border crossing.

Australia closed its embassy in Tehran last week as the conflict looked to escalate.

DFAT on Sunday warned of a “risk of reprisal attacks and further escalation across the region” following the US strikes.

“This may result in airspace closures, flight cancellations and other travel disruptions,” Smartraveller said.

“Local security situations could deteriorate with little notice.”

The advice for Australians in Iran last week changed from “shelter in place” to leave if it is safe to do so.

Noah Yim