The Australian Government has told the families of diplomats to evacuate their postings in Lebanon and Israel.
The order comes as tensions build between the U.S. and Iran, with representatives intalks on a nuclear agreement.
Australia closed its embassy in Iran in August, after discovering the Iranian regime had “directed” at least two attacks against Australia’s Jewish community.
Evacuation
This week, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT)“directed the departure of dependants of Australian officials” in Israel and Lebanon, “in response to the deteriorating security situation in the Middle East.”
The news was shared in a series of Smartraveller social media posts.
DFAT also said it has “offered voluntary departures to dependants of Australian officials posted in Jordan, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates,” citing an “unpredictable” security situation.
Background
In 2015, a group of countries signed an agreement called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), including the U.S. and Iran.
The JCPOA restricted Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for the U.S. easing sanctions. Under the agreement, Iran’s nuclear developments are meant to be “exclusively peaceful” – limited to energy, not weapons.
In 2018, then-President Donald Trump withdrew the U.S. from the JCPOA.
Last June, Israel announced it hadattacked nuclear and military targets in Iran, citing concerns about progress toward a nuclear bomb.
In response, Australia temporarily closed its embassy in the capital city of Tehran. (This is separate to the long-term closure announced in August 2025).
At the time, Foreign Minister Penny Wong said staff needed to be moveddue to the “deteriorating security environment.”
Soon after, Trump announced the U.S. had bombed Iranian nuclear facilities.
Latest
In December, the largest civilian protests in Iran since the 1979Revolution kicked off.
Demonstrators called for the end of the Iranian regime, headed by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. The Human Rights Activists News Agency reports at least 6,500 protesters have been killed.
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On 13 January, Trump told protesters “help is on its way”. Two weeks later, he said “a massive Armada is heading to Iran.”
In February, U.S-Iran nuclear agreement talks re-started in Oman.
Last week, Trump convened the first meeting of his ‘Board of Peace’ overseeing Gaza.
At that meeting, Trump said the U.S. would “have to make a meaningful deal” with Iran, “otherwise bad things happen.” He suggested a 10-day window for the regime to respond.
The U.S. military presence in the region has continued to grow, includingan aircraft carrier and guided-missile destroyers.
They join the largest U.S. contingent of warships and aircrafts in the Middle East for decades, according to the Associated Press.
State of the Union
This week, Trump delivered his State of the Union (SOTU) address – a speech given by the President outlining the issues the U.S. currently faces.
A key theme in Trump’s 107-minute-long speech was U.S.involvement in Iran, calling the country’s leaders “some terrible people”.
Trump said he “will make peace,”but “will never hesitate to confront threats”.
Trump said: “For decades, it has been the policy of the United States never to allow Iran to obtain a nuclear weapon.”
“We are in negotiations with them... but we haven’t heard those secret words, ‘we will never have a nuclear weapon’,” Trump added.
In the speech, he called the regime the world’s “number one sponsor of terror”.
Iran response
Iran Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said the country “will resume talks with the U.S... with a determination to achieve a fair and equitable deal – in the shortest possible time.”
The countries are set to meet in Switzerland on Thursday (local time).
Araghchi said Iran “will under no circumstances ever develop a nuclear weapon”.
Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei said the U.S. was using a “law of propaganda coined by Nazi Joseph Goebbels... ‘Repeat a lie often enough and it becomes the truth’”.
