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Today's Paper | May 03, 2026

Published 19 Jun, 2025 12:25pm

Govts scramble to evacuate citizens from Israel, Iran

Governments around the world are attempting to evacuate thousands of their nationals caught up in the rapidly spiralling Israel-Iran conflict, organising buses and planes and in some cases assisting people crossing borders on foot.

  • The Czech Republic and Slovakia said they had taken 181 people home on government planes.
  • Germany said flights were scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday via Jordan.
  • Poland said the first of its citizens were due to arrive back on Wednesday.
  • Greece said it had repatriated 105 of its citizens plus a number of foreign nationals via Egypt.
  • A private plane with 148 people landed in the Bulgarian capital Sophia on Tuesday.
  • The US ambassador to Israel announced plans for evacuating Americans by air and sea.
  • Australia has started evacuating around 1,500 citizens from Iran and more than 1,200 from Israel.
  • Around 1,000 Pakistanis have fled Iran so far, including at least 200 students.
  • Around 110 Indian students who fled Iran over the land border with Armenia have landed in New Delhi.
  • New Zealand closed its embassy in Iran, evacuating two staff members and their family to Azerbaijan by land.
  • Japan has ordered military planes to be on standby for around 1,000 Japanese nationals believed to live in Israel, and around 280 in Iran.
  • Indonesia is preparing to evacuate around 380 of its citizens currently in Iran by land.
  • The Philippines is preparing to repatriate 28 Israel-based Filipino workers out of 178 who asked for help. At least 21 Philippine government officials have also crossed into Jordan by land from Israel.
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