The Foreign Office is drawing up plans to evacuate tens of thousands of British citizens if war in the Middle East escalates, with many travellers currently stranded in Dubai. Keir Starmer said on Sunday that about 200,000 British people are in the region, on holiday or otherwise travelling across the Gulf. He urged everyone in areas targeted by Iranian strikes to register with the Foreign Office to receive advice, with about 94,000 doing that so far.
More than 50,000 of those are believed to be in the United Arab Emirates, and most of those are holidaymakers or other travellers, rather than residents, with Dubai a major tourist and business destination. Its airspace is currently closed, leaving tourists without a plan for getting home. The UK government’s advice is for people to follow local instructions, especially where it is to shelter in their current location.
But the situation is uncertain and Whitehall sources said the government is looking at all options including evacuations via different routes if the airspace remains closed and tensions escalate. One possibility could be evacuation by road to neighbouring countries where the airspace remains open, such as Saudi Arabia. The Ministry of Defence is working with the Foreign Office on options as part of an unprecedented consular operation involving registering people across multiple countries to identify who may need support.
The foreign secretary, Yvette Cooper, is expected to make her first remarks on the unfolding crisis on Monday after spending the weekend working on the response. She has been engaged in a major diplomatic push, speaking to her regional counterparts, the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, and other G7 foreign ministers. Keir Starmer issued a joint statement with the French president, Emmanuel Macron, and the German chancellor, Friedrich Merz, on Sunday evening, saying the three countries were ready to take steps to defend their interests in the region after Iran’s “indiscriminate and disproportionate” missile attacks.
No 10 has refused to say whether the UK supports the US and Israeli strikes on Iran, but John Healey, the defence secretary, said on Sunday morning that few will mourn Iran’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, who died in the bombing. Healey described the Iranian regime as “evil” and said it had menaced the west by sponsoring at least 20 terrorist plots to attack the UK. Pressed on the legality of the strikes, he said it was “for the US to set out and explain” whether its action was legal. He also refused to be drawn on the UK having declined use of its military bases for the attacks.
