The federal government has also said it is looking at how it can assist Australians who are stranded in Israel and Iran.

Israelis look at the site of an Iranian ballistic missile strike in Bnei Brak on 16 June 2025, in which one elderly man was killed and dozens were injured. Source: Getty, NurPhoto / Gili Yaari

Iran’s airspace, and Israel’s main airport, Ben Gurion International, are both closed “until further notice”, while neighbouring Jordan and Iraq have both closed their airspaces multiple times since Friday.

Robertson said they’ve been able to drive “hundreds of people”, including Australians, across land borders and conduct a smaller number of maritime evacuations from Middle Eastern ports in the last week.

“The challenge is getting people to somewhere safe in the first instance where they might be able to wait with food, medical attention if they need it, communications, and then, if it’s safe to move them onwards, to a port of departure. So that’s been our main focus,” he said.

The Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) building was struck by an Israeli attack. Source: Getty / Alexi J Rosenfeld

Robertson said they’ve moved people via ports in Beirut and Haifa to Cyprus, and through the Sheikh Hussein crossing between northern Israel into Jordan and a crossing between the occupied West Bank and Jordan.

“We’ve been seeing people either hunkering down, standing fast, in Iran or trying to leave through the land borders to places like Türkiye.”

“And then the second phase is to move them to a port of departure.”

From Israel, it takes many hours to drive across into Jordan, Robertson said.

“People should be planning for significant disruption and be prepared to remain in place somewhere safe, whether it’s an office, a home, a hotel, even an airport for a really long period of time waiting for airspace to change or for border crossing (to) open,” he said.

Why it’s hard for Australians to leave the Middle East

“DFAT’s consular team is working to assist Australians to safety, via land and air when it is safe to do so,” the spokesperson said