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Spain has evacuated its embassy in Tehran after a new round of Israeli airstrikes hit the Iranian capital, as France ramped up efforts to fly thousands of stranded citizens out of the wider Middle East, signaling a deepening diplomatic crisis across the region.
Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares confirmed Saturday evening that the ambassador and essential personnel who had remained in Tehran crossed the border into Azerbaijan and are safe. "The safety of our citizens and of the Spanish foreign service is my priority," Albares wrote on X.
The evacuation came after several airstrikes shook neighborhoods in eastern and southwestern Tehran, with Israel's military confirming a new wave of strikes. The Israeli offensive followed what the Israeli military described as a fresh barrage of missiles fired by Iran toward Israeli territory, prompting authorities to order residents across the country, including in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, to seek shelter.
Albares said the rest of Spain's embassies in the region remain operational and are taking emergency calls.
France, meanwhile, has been conducting a large-scale evacuation effort from the United Arab Emirates. French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said at least 4,300 people stranded in the UAE have been brought back to France in recent days. Of those, roughly 800 returned on government-chartered planes arranged for vulnerable passengers requiring special assistance, while approximately 3,500 others flew back on commercial flights to Paris, Barrot told France 5 national television on Saturday.
Six commercial flights to Paris per day are scheduled for Sunday and Monday, with an additional government-organized flight expected to depart from Beirut, Lebanon's capital, on Sunday.
An estimated 400,000 French citizens live across the Middle East, including many dual nationals and permanent residents, according to the French government. France began organizing evacuation flights earlier in the week as tensions in the region intensified.
The parallel evacuations by Spain and France underscore the growing alarm among European governments over the safety of their nationals and diplomatic personnel as the Israel-Iran confrontation shows no sign of abating.
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