Australia tells families of diplomats in Israel, Lebanon to leave amid Iran tensions

The Australian government has told dependants of its diplomats in Israel and Lebanon to leave the two Middle East countries, citing a deteriorating security situation in the region, the foreign ministry said on Wednesday.

The government also offered voluntary departures to the family members of Australian diplomats in the United Arab Emirates, Jordan and Qatar, it said on an official ministry X account. It made no mention of Iran, however, as the Australian embassy there has been shuttered since August 2025.

The Australian government also continued to advise citizens in Israel and Lebanon to consider leaving while commercial options are still available, the foreign ministry said.

“The Australian Government has directed the departure of dependents of Australian officials posted to Israel in response to the deteriorating security situation in the Middle East,” the Foreign Office said in a statement. “If you’re in Israel, we continue to advise you consider leaving while commercial options to depart are still available.”

“The security situation in the Middle East is unpredictable. Regional tensions remain high and there continues to be a risk of military conflict,” the statement added. “Conflicts in the Middle East could result in airspace closures, flight cancellations and other travel disruptions.”

It posted an identical message about Lebanon.

The warning, made on the foreign ministry’s Smartraveller X account, came hours after US President Donald Trump laid out his case for a possible attack on Iran in his State of the Union speech to Congress on Tuesday, saying he would not allow the world’s biggest sponsor of terrorism to have a nuclear weapon.

Iran and the United States resumed negotiations over a nuclear deal earlier this month, and the two sides are due to meet in Geneva on Thursday.

But Trump has repeatedly threatened to attack Iran if the talks fail, and Washington has continued to build up military capability in the Middle East. Iran has vowed in turn to strike Israel and US assets in the region if it is attacked.

On Tuesday, a senior official from the US State Department said Washington was pulling nonessential staff and eligible family members from its embassy in Lebanon amid tensions with Iran.

According to Australia’s NewsCorp, the travel warnings were intended as a precautionary measure and would not impact the operations of the Australian embassies in Tel Aviv or Beirut.

The Australian warning marked the first new travel warning for Israel since tensions began heating back up again in recent weeks.

On January 15, as deadly protests gripped Iran and Trump looked as though he could authorize American intervention, several countries, including the US and UK issued warnings against travel to Israel.

The warnings were lifted days later, however, after the US president backed down from his threats.

While Israel had, until Wednesday, avoided being subject to any new travel warnings, several have been issued for Iran in recent days.

Serbia and Poland both told their nationals in Iran to leave as soon as possible, while the Indian embassy in Iran advised citizens currently in Iran on Tuesday to leave by available means of transport, including commercial flights.

Others, including Cyprus and Sweden, never removed the travel warnings they imposed last month during the regime’s crackdown on protesters.