UK said preparing to evacuate its citizens from the Middle East via Saudi Arabia

The UK is reportedly drawing up plans to evacuate citizens from the Middle East if regional airspace remains closed as Israel and the US exchange blows with Iran.

At present, the government advises UK citizens to stay in place, and the plans will be enacted only if it becomes clear that the airspace will stay closed for a long time, UK newspaper The Times says.

According to the outlet, British ministers are planning on evacuating people from Saudi Arabia, whose airspace is still open.

At least 200,000 UK citizens are in the region, including residents, tourists and people in transit, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said in a video statement on Sunday, adding that Iran’s strikes in the region had “hit airports and hotels where British citizens are staying.”

The UK government has urged British citizens in Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Israel and the Palestinian territories to register with the British Foreign Office.

The BBC reports that over 94,000 UK citizens have done so, most of them from the United Arab Emirates. Of those, most are tourists, it says.