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When Sydney resident Amir left for Iran to visit his seriously ill father, he had no idea he would be trapped in the middle of an escalating conflict, navigating codes, border crossings, diplomatic missions and Iranian suspicions of foreign spies.
Amir — which is not his real name and asked to remain anonymous for security reasons — arrived in Mashhad in Iran’s north-east just before Israel launched its military strikes against Iran’s nuclear program on 13 June.
He is one of approximately 3,000 Australians and their families who have registered with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) for assistance in leaving Iran.
With signs of danger brewing, Amir packed his bags to return to Australia and said farewell to his father, whom Amir had visited before his dad underwent a potentially life-threatening medical procedure.
“It was a dangerous situation, and we’ve never seen such a thing before,” Amir’s wife, Farah (also not her real name), told SBS News from their home in Sydney.
Amir and Farah (pictured) in Sydney during happier times. Credit: Supplied
With Iran closing its airspace, Amir thought he could leave the country via a land crossing into Turkmenistan, which was about a four-hour drive away from Mashhad.
Farah, anxiously trying to help her husband, wrote to the Australian embassy in Ankara, Türkiye, on 18 June requesting assistance for him to flee Iran via Turkmenistan. She later received a response notifying them there was a way out through that crossing.
But Farah said Amir was given a seven-hour window by embassy officials between crossing the Iran-Turkmenistan border and reaching the airport in Turkmenistan to book a flight home.
Realising this would not be possible with Amir also needing a visa into Turkmenistan — a process which would take days — and receiving no response back from consular officials to numerous subsequent queries, Amir decided to drive for 20 hours to another border crossing — this time in Astara, near Azerbaijan, where Australian consular officials were stationed on the other side.
The journey from Mashhad to Astara is about 1,400km — equivalent to the drive from Sydney to Adelaide.
It was in Astara that an alleged code error left Amir effectively stranded.
Amir travelled 1,400 km from Mashhad in Iran’s east to Astara, near the border with Azerbaijan, on the advice of Australian authorities, but was reportedly forced to return due to a bungled code. Credit: SBS News
Amir was travelling with his sister, a British national, who received a code needed to cross the border into Azerbaijan from the United Kingdom authorities within a few hours of requesting it.
But Amir was still without a code, despite repeated attempts to seek help from Australian consular staff, Farah alleged.
“We started to send emails to Ankara embassy, Moscow embassy, I don’t know at the end, we just send these emails even to the Azerbaijan government, like the prime minister, or whoever that we could reach to get this code. But no-one really helped us,” she said.
Finally, Amir received a code verbally from an Australian consular official following a phone call from his sister, which he wrote down to present to the border officials.
However, after five hours of waiting at the crossing, he was denied entry by Azerbaijani authorities because the code was invalid and had not been issued in his name, Farah said.
She said border officials grew suspicious of Amir.
“That was the point that he was under danger, because they just suspect that he’s trying to run [into] the country,” Farah said, adding that she feared her husband could be detained on false suspicions of being a spy.
“He couldn’t believe that this was happening to an Australian citizen.”
At that point, Farah said, Amir feared for his life.
“He was like … I feel like I’m gonna die here because there is no support, no nothing,” she said.
SBS News has seen more than two dozen emails from various family members seeking help for Amir, addressed to Australian consular staff and government officials.
In an email dated 24 June, following the alleged bungled code incident, an Australian consular official wrote to Amir’s relative, stating they had applied for a code for Amir from Azerbaijani authorities and that it could take four days or longer to obtain one.
At the time of publication, Amir was on a 20-hour drive back to Mashhad, where he hopes to board a commercial flight and return home to Sydney.
During the journey, Amir received a WhatsApp message from someone claiming to be an Australian consular official informing him that a new code had been issued for him to cross into Azerbaijan. But Farah said he did not want to risk another failed attempt in case it didn’t work again.
Farah, who has struggled with intermittent contact with Amir due to internet outages in Iran, remains anxious her husband may remain stranded.
“I’m really, really worried for him. I can’t tell you how much I’m worried. I couldn’t really sleep at night. I couldn’t function properly in my work,” she said.
Farah said she felt Australia had “mishandled” its response to the crisis.
“They couldn’t handle it properly. The only thing that they did very good is they just sent an airplane to Israel and took 120 citizens from there. But in Iranian side, they were kind of like a total big mess, doing nothing to help citizens,” Farah said.
“I felt [like] we are abandoned.”
A DFAT spokesperson said it was providing consular assistance to an Australian seeking to cross the border between Iran and Azerbaijan but could not provide further details due to privacy reasons.
“DFAT officers, including at the border crossing in Azerbaijan, are working hard to support Australians seeking to leave Iran,” the spokesperson said.
“DFAT is working with Azerbaijan authorities to help facilitate border crossing codes. Representations from the foreign minister and our officials have resulted in a complete clearance of the backlog of Australian requests for border crossing codes.
“Our focus now is on supporting Australians who wish to leave to secure seats on commercial flights that have begun operating out of Iran.”
