RIYADH: The UK’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office is drawing up plans to evacuate tens of thousands of British citizens if war in the Middle East escalates, several British media outlets have reported.
The government does not know how many British nationals are resident, on holiday, or otherwise traveling across the Gulf, but it said 76,000 have so far registered their presence in affected areas of the region.
According to The Guardian, more than 50,000 of those are believed to be in the UAE, and most are holidaymakers or other travelers rather than residents, with Dubai a major tourist and business destination. Its airspace is currently closed, leaving tourists without a clear plan for getting home.
The Foreign Office’s advice is against all travel to Iran, Israel, and Palestine. It also advises against all but essential travel to the UAE, Qatar, Kuwait and Bahrain, and there are further instructions to avoid travel to some parts of Pakistan.
According to the X account of the British ambassador to Saudi Arabia, British nationals in the Kingdom are advised to stay at home, while those in Jordan, Oman, Syria, Lebanon, Yemen and Iraq should take precautions given the heightened regional tensions.
Yvette Cooper, the British foreign secretary, is expected to make her first remarks on the unfolding crisis on Monday. For his part, Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Sunday expressed “solidarity” with nations in the Middle East facing “indiscriminate” fire from Iran as he spoke to the leaders of Bahrain and Cyprus.
Meanwhile, leading online news outlet Semafor has reported that Riyadh has emerged as a key exit route for the super-rich and senior executives stranded in the Gulf who are seeking safe passage out of major cities such as Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Doha.
The Saudi capital’s airport is one of the few still operating in the region, forcing executives and their families stranded in other parts of the Gulf to take the long drive in order to catch private jets or commercial flights from King Khaled International Airport in Riyadh, Semafor reported.
Private security companies have been booking fleets of SUVs to ferry high-net-worth individuals and leading executives on the 10-hour drive to Riyadh from Dubai, before chartering private planes to take them out of the region.
“Saudi Arabia is the only real option for people who want to get out of the region right now,” said Ameerh Naran, chief executive of private jet brokerage Vimana Private. Private jets from Riyadh to Europe now cost up to $350,000, he told Semafor.
