France pulls diplomats’ families from Iran as Israel warnings grow

The rubble of a building annexed to the Iranian embassy a day after an airstrike in Damascus, Syria. Photograph: Louai Beshara/AFP/Getty Images

France has ordered the evacuation of diplomats’ families from Iran as a string of countries warned against travel to the region amid growing fears that Tehran may carry out a retaliatory attack on Israel or Israeli interests in the coming days.

France, the UK, Canada and Australia all issued notices warning against travel to Israel. The US restricted travel for American diplomats and their families in Israel, barring employees there from travelling to large parts of the country out of an “abundance of caution”.

The German airline Lufthansa extended a temporary suspension of flights to and from Tehran until Saturday.

Iran has threatened reprisals against Israel over a strike on the Iranian consulate in Syria on 1 April, in which seven members of the Revolutionary Guards including two generals were killed, sparking fears that an already volatile climate in the Middle East could quickly spiral further.

Israel has said it is strengthening air defences and has paused leave for combat units. The Iranian foreign minister, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, said late on Thursday he had received phone calls from his German equivalent, Annalena Baerbock, and her British and Australian counterparts.

In its strong warning on Friday, the French foreign ministry advised citizens against travelling to Iran, Lebanon, Israel and the Palestinian territories and said French civil servants were now banned from conducting any missions there.

In a statement on the social media platform X, it added that relatives of Iran-based diplomats would return to France.

The advisories followed a report in the Wall Street Journal that Israel was preparing for the prospect of an attack from Iran, possibly as soon as this weekend.

A US official told the publication that American intelligence reports now indicated an Iranian retaliatory strike “possibly on Israeli soil” as opposed to against Israeli interests elsewhere, adding that the strike could come within 24 to 48 hours.

The same report cited an individual briefed by the Iranian leadership as saying no final decision had been taken by Tehran.

The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, later announced that Israel would conduct a security assessment of reported Iranian preparations for an attack.

While analysts had initially speculated that Iran might not rush into a response, concern has grown in the last two days over the potential for direct conflict between Iran and Israel after years of proxy conflict between the two enemies.

On Wednesday Joe Biden said Iran was threatening a “significant attack” against Israel and said Washington would do all it could to protect Israel’s security.

Biden’s comments in turn followed a televised speech by Iran’s leader saying the attack in Damascus was equivalent to an attack on Iran itself. “When they attacked our consulate area, it was like they attacked our territory,” Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said. “The evil regime must be punished, and it will be punished.”

The Israeli military said it was fully prepared for any strike. Israel was “on alert and highly prepared for various scenarios, and we are constantly assessing the situation,” the IDF spokesperson Daniel Hagari said at a press conference. “We are ready for attack and defence using a variety of capabilities that the IDF has, and also ready with our strategic partners.”

According to reports in the Israeli media, the IDF believes that Iran or one of its proxies are most likely to attempt to strike a military target rather than civilian centres, although some sites such as the Kirya, Israel’s defence headquarters in Tel Aviv, are located in city centres next to shopping malls, offices and restaurants.