The Foreign Ministry is monitoring developments in the war in case Spaniards need to be evacuated from the region.

The government is not considering, at least in the short term, a mass evacuation of Spaniards from the Middle East in response to the war unleashed by the United States and Israel against Iran, which has affected other countries in the region. However, according to government sources, it is continuously monitoring the situation in case it becomes necessary to repatriate a group of Spaniards trapped in a country from which it is not possible to leave. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has set up a Crisis Cabinet to deal with what, given its scale, could be the biggest consular crisis for Spanish diplomacy in recent years. On Sunday, Minister José Manuel Albares estimated the number of Spaniards in the region at 30,000, although the figure is constantly changing, as many citizens who have been caught off guard by the closure of busy international airports such as Doha (Qatar) and Abu Dhabi (United Arab Emirates) are calling Spanish embassies and consulates to register. According to Albares, all Spanish embassies have an evacuation plan in place, but its activation depends on how events unfold. He stressed that conditions vary greatly from one country to another, as in some countries the airspace is closed, while in others it is possible to fly, albeit with restrictions, as was the case on Sunday in Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Oman, and Jordan. While in the former case, evacuation is only possible by land, which has not been considered so far—or waiting for airspace to reopen—in the latter case, it is possible to look for plane tickets or, as a last resort, charter a flight to repatriate them. Albares has asked Spaniards in the region to remain attentive to the recommendations of his ministry and the respective embassies and, if necessary, to contact the consular emergency telephone number, available 24 hours a day (91 000 1249). In any case, he added, “for an evacuation plan to be successful, discretion must be maintained until it is complete.” On Sunday morning, Albares held a telematic meeting with the 15 Spanish ambassadors in the region, those from Iran, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Oman, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia. After the meeting, the minister sought to send a message of reassurance, stating that, after the first day of fighting, “no Spaniards have been injured and, of course, there have been no deaths; they are all well.” He emphasized that the government's “absolute priority” is the safety of Spaniards in the region and embassy staff and their families. In the afternoon, at the online meeting held by EU foreign ministers, Albares called for “coordination at the European level to protect our citizens.” Speaking to TVE, Albares stated that he has no information that the bases in Rota and Morón have been used in Operation Epic Fury launched by the United States and Israel against Iran. “From the information I have, absolutely not,” he said. According to the head of Spanish diplomacy, the bases will not be used for anything that is not included in the agreement with the US, “which has a perimeter, and outside that perimeter they will not be used.” However, as EL PAÍS reported, two of the five destroyers deployed at the Rota base, the USS Roosevelt and the USS Bulkeley, are off the coast of Israel as part of the operation. Their mission, according to military sources, is to protect Israel from missiles launched by Iran in retaliation for the attacks on Washington and Tel Aviv. Both ships are equipped with the Aegis system and SM-3 interceptor missiles, enabling them to cover the gaps in Israel's Iron Dome ballistic missile defense system. In Lebanon, the nearly 700 Spanish peacekeepers have raised the alert level, although there has been no reaction so far from Hezbollah, Tehran's Shiite militia ally.