Australia Issues Updated Travel Warning for Israel Following Recent Iran Actions

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Key Points

Israel launched an attack on Iran, saying it targeted nuclear facilities and killed top commanders.
Israel declared a state of emergency and said it had intercepted 100 drones from Iran.
Some international airlines are cancelling flights to the region and Australia has issued a ‘do not travel’ warning.

Australians have been told not to go to Israel in an upgraded travel warning that comes after the Israeli military launched an attack on Iran, sparking a retaliation.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade already had ‘do not travel’ advisories in place for parts of Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories, including Gaza and areas near the border, Israel’s border with Lebanon, and the West Bank.

But on Friday afternoon, its Smartraveller website upgraded its overall advice to the same level.

“Due to the deteriorating security situation, we’ve raised our level of advice and now advise, do not travel to Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories due to the volatile security situation, armed conflict, civil unrest and terrorism,” the update reads.

“Following military strikes in Iran there’s an increased threat of military and terrorist attacks against Israel. Israel has declared a national state of emergency.”

Burnt out building with firefighters standing nearby.

Firefighters assess the damage outside a building that was hit by Israeli airstrikes north of Tehran. Source: AAP / Abedin Taherkenareh/EPA

Israel declared a state of emergency in anticipation of retaliatory missile and drone strikes following its attack on Iran, which it said targeted nuclear facilities, ballistic missile factories and military commanders.

The military later said it was working to intercept about 100 drones launched by Iran.

In a briefing online, Israeli military spokesman Brigadier General Effie Defrin said Iran’s main nuclear enrichment facility Natanz suffered significant damage in Israeli strikes on Friday.

Defrin said the Israeli military was working according to a gradual attack plan and that the operation may be lengthy, signalling more attacks were to come.

Israel attacks Iran

Israel’s attack on Iran involved more than 200 fighter jets which hit more than 100 targets, military spokesman Effie Defrin said.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) said top commander Hossein Salami was killed in the strike and state media reported the unit’s headquarters in the capital, Tehran, had been hit. Several children had been killed in a strike on a residential area in the capital, it said.

The Tasnim news agency said six nuclear scientists were killed in the attacks.

Israel could confirm that the chief of staff of the Iranian armed forces, the commander of the IRGC and the commander of Iran’s emergency command were all killed in the strikes across Iran, Defrin said.

A man in a green general's jacket holds his fist up while making a speech into a microphone in front of an orange backdrop

Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps head Hossein Salami was reportedly killed in Israeli airstrikes. Source: AAP / Abedin Taherkenareh

Earlier, in a recorded video message, Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his country faced a “decisive moment” in its history.

“Moments ago Israel launched Operation Rising Lion, a targeted military operation to roll back the Iranian threat to Israel’s very survival. This operation will continue for as many days as it takes to remove this threat.”

That threat, Israel says, is Iran building a nuclear weapon. The Israeli military said its intelligence gathering showed Iran was approaching the “point of no return” on its nuclear program.

Iran has repeatedly denied it is seeking a nuclear weapon.

An Israeli security source told the Reuters news agency that commandos from Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency led a series of covert operations deep inside Iran leading up to the military strikes.

Those operations included deploying precision-guided weapons in open areas near Iranian surface-to-air missile systems sites, advanced technology used against Iran’s air defence systems and the establishment of an attack-drone base near Tehran, the security source reportedly said.

Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said in a statement that Israel had “unleashed its wicked and bloody” hand in a crime against Iran and that it would receive “a bitter fate for itself”.

Iran’s armed forces spokesperson said Israel and its chief ally the United States would pay a “heavy price” for the attack, accusing Washington of providing support for the operation.

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Israel would face “harsh punishment” for the attack. Source: AAP / Vahid Salemi/AP

A Hezbollah official said on Friday the Lebanese armed group, which is backed by Iran, would not unilaterally launch its own attack on Israel in response to Israeli strikes on Iran.

“Hezbollah will not initiate its own attack on Israel in retaliation for Israel’s strikes,” the official told Reuters. A public statement from Hezbollah condemned Israel’s strikes and expressed full solidarity with Iran.

While the US tried to distance itself from Israel’s military operation, an Israeli official told public broadcaster Kan that Israel had coordinated with Washington on Iran.

The United States said it had no part in the operation, which raises the risk of a fresh escalation in tensions in the Middle East.

Anthony Albanese says escalation ‘concerning’

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the escalation was “concerning”.

“We … are very conscious of the threat that Iran becoming a nuclear state would represent to peace and security in the region as well,” Albanese told reporters on Friday.

“We want to see these issues resolved through dialogue, and the United States has been playing an important role there.”

Earlier, Foreign Minister Penny Wong echoed Albanese’s concern, saying the attacks risked “further destabilising a region that is already volatile”.

“We call on all parties to refrain from actions and rhetoric that would further exacerbate tensions.

“We all understand the need, the threat of Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile program, it represents a threat to international peace and security and we urge the parties to prioritise dialogue and diplomacy.”

US President Donald Trump said that Iran cannot have a nuclear bomb and that the US was hoping to get back to the negotiating table, in an interview with Fox News after the start of the Israeli air strikes on Iran.

Smoke and light rise against a black night sky.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei had earlier warned Israel will face “severe punishment ” for its attacks. Source: AAP / Vahid Salemi/AP

“We will see,” Fox News reporter Jennifer Griffin quoted Trump as saying in a post on X.

In a post on Truth Social, Trump urged Iran to make a deal over its nuclear program, saying that there was still time for the country to prevent further conflict with Israel.

“There has already been great death and destruction, but there is still time to make this slaughter, with the next already planned attacks being even more brutal, come to an end,” he wrote.

US officials have repeatedly said that any new nuclear deal with Iran — to replace a failed 2015 accord between Tehran and six world powers — must include a commitment to scrap enrichment, viewed as a potential pathway to developing nuclear bombs.

Iran has repeatedly denied such intentions, saying it wants nuclear energy only for civilian purposes, and has publicly rejected Washington’s demand to scrap enrichment as an attack on its national sovereignty.

Iran’s government said in a statement that Israel’s “cowardly” attack shows why Tehran insists on enrichment, nuclear technology and missile power.

Trump would convene a meeting of the US National Security Council on Friday morning, the White House said.

Flights cancelled, ships avoiding Red Sea

Several international airlines have cancelled flights to the region amid the attacks. The Lufthansa group, a German aviation group with subsidiaries throughout Europe, cancelled flights to Tel Aviv, Tehran and other cities in the Middle East, a statement said on Friday.

The group has cancelled flights to Tel Aviv and Tehran until July 31 and cancelled flights to Amman, Erbil and Beirut until June 20, a statement said.

“The Lufthansa Group will also continue to refrain from using the airspace of the affected countries until further notice,” it said.

Turkey’s Pegasus Airlines has cancelled flights to Iran until June 19 and flights to Iraq and Jordan until Monday following Israel’s attack on Iran.

The company said in a statement that it will operate flights to Lebanon only during daylight hours.

Meanwhile, Greece and Britain have advised their merchant shipping fleets to avoid sailing through the Gulf of Aden and to log all voyages through the Straits of Hormuz, documents seen by Reuters showed.

Greek ship owners were urged to send details of their vessels sailing through the Strait of Hormuz to Greece’s maritime ministry, according to one of the documents issued by Greece’s shipping association, which was sent on Friday.

All UK-flagged vessels, which include the Gibraltar and Bermuda registries, were advised to avoid sailing through the southern Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, a separate document issued by the UK’s transport ministry said.

— With additional reporting by the Agence France-Presse and Reuters news agencies.