Tell the UK Government: Bring British Citizens Home from Iran

[DinkyW]

Right now, British citizens are trapped in Iran.

Some travelled for holidays. Some for personal reasons. None of them expected to be abandoned.

There are no flights out.

The land borders are tense.

And the UK government has not made any public commitment to support their safe return home.

Other countries, Ireland, France, India, are acting. They're coordinating land exits, working with regional partners, and getting their people out.

But the UK?

Silence.

This isn’t about sending planes into conflict zones. It’s about:

• Coordinating land-based evacuation routes
• Supporting consular protection through diplomatic channels
• Communicating clearly with families who are terrified and in the dark

📢 I’m calling on David Lammy and Keir Starmer to urgently address this.

We cannot pick and choose which citizens deserve help based on geography or political convenience.

Every British citizen deserves equal protection.

📄 You can support the call for action here:
👉 https://www.thepetitionsite.com/762/643/873/

Please sign, share, and help make this visible.

hashtag#BringThemHome hashtag#BritishCitizensAbroad hashtag#ForeignPolicy hashtag#UKPolitics hashtag#HumanRights hashtag#DavidLammy hashtag#KeirStarmer hashtag#Iran

In March, the FCDO issued a travel warning advising all British nationals against all travel to Iran and advised British nationals to leave. Knowing the significant risks they chose to stay. Is it the government’s job to risk lives in order to get them home?

There is a blanket FCO ban to travel to Iran for British citizens. If people chose to travel there against FCO advice you can't expect the UK government to get involved.

In any event, what EXACTLY do you think the UK government CAN do. Ring the Iranians and ask them nicely to send their citizens home..

Remember the couple arrested in January for biking across Iran who were arrested as spies. that's gone very quiet.

‘Desperately frightened' NHS worker describes being trapped in Tehran while on a family visit with his mother.

An NHS worker has told how he is "trapped" in Iran with no "support" from the British Embassy as the fighting between Israel and Iran intensifies.

Richard Oladi, from Purley, Surrey, works in NHS primary care alongside his mother.

Richard Oladi said that he and his mother are trapped in Iran's capital of Tehran after travelling to the city last week to visit family - a trip they regularly take.
He also previously worked in Iran as an expat at a Danish company for ten years.’ 🙄
………..

WHAT AN ENTITLED IDIOT HE IS. He is familiar with Iran and knows that there are violent extremist groups there. ISIS and related groups are responsible for bombings and other attacks in the country. The risk of terrorism and deadly harm to bystanders has been going on for some time, not just in recent weeks.

British tax payers should not have to pay to retrieve these types of people who foolishly ignored warning and just basic common sense not to visit Iran.

I have sympathy for those stuck there but why on earth would anyone go on holiday to Iran given the middle east situation ? Why didn’t they leave while they could?

FCO advice was to not travel.
People ignored this and travelled anyway thinking they knew better than the govt.
Now want govt to get them out.

And now Iran has attacked a U.S Airbase I imagine the U.S will retaliate, so no country will be wanting to fly aircraft there.

If you ignore the advice not to travel then why should British tax payers pay to get you out?

The first plane from Israel for UK citizens was provided and left today. Maybe Iran is next on there list.

Agree with pp though why on earth would you go to Iran.

I hear the frustration, truly.

No one’s denying that the FCDO advised against travel to Iran.

But let’s be honest about what’s happening here.

People didn’t go to Iran for a beach holiday.

• They went to bury their mothers.
• To say goodbye to dying fathers.
• To care for elderly relatives in their final days.

These were not reckless choices, they were human ones.

Some have done this journey every year for decades. They knew the risks, yes, but they also believed that, if something went wrong, the country they call home wouldn’t just turn away.

Other governments , France, Ireland, India, aren’t asking whether their citizens “deserve” help. They’re getting them out. Quietly, through land routes and diplomacy. No drama, just duty.

We’re not asking for military planes or heroics. We’re asking for a plan. For contact. For families in the UK to stop living in silence, not knowing if their loved ones are safe.

Being a British citizen should mean something, not just when it’s convenient, but when it’s difficult.

We don’t abandon people because helping them is hard. Surely.

The travel advice is there for a reason, there are consequences for ignoring it. Why should other British people risk their lives to rescue those who chose to put themselves at risk?

Some have done this journey every year for decades. They knew the risks, yes, but they also believed that, if something went wrong, the country they call home wouldn’t just turn away.

Well they shouldn't have believed and thought that should they. The FCO make it clear that this will not happen. The FCO don't issue bans for fun but for serious, valid reasons. The FCO advice is very very clear. If you are detained or stuck - there is nothing the UK government can do. People need to realise that those are the risks. If they choose to travel against FCO advice they are on their own.

As I said in my pp, what on earth can the UK government DO? Even if they wanted to help they could not. Iran's views on the UK and the relation ship with them is very different. They will not release UK citizens

No we don’t abandon people when it’s hard…but I think it’s reasonable to do so when they have traveled against FO advice.

1 - they shouldn't have gone there in the first place. Harsh maybe, but life is harsh and us cossetted westerners aren't used to things going badly wrong like they can in unstable countries.

2 - what makes people believe the government actually gives a damn? We're just an annoyance to them, apart from the tax and motoring fines they can extract.

No, if you ignore FCDO advice, no other Briton should have to risk their life to rescue you

'Being a British citizen should mean something, not just when it’s convenient, but when it’s difficult'.

The times of Imperialism and the UK thinking it can police the world and order other countries around are long gone. Thankfully

We’re not asking for military planes or heroics

You absolutely are asking for military planes because the Govt are hardly going to send BA out there to bring people back are they? The advice was not to go. These people thought they knew better and went anyway, so please explain to me why they should send the military, people like my son who absolutely do as they’re told, into danger to get them out?

100% this. Iran wouldn't let a UK military aircraft land, and if they did, they certainly would allow it to take off again and lock the crew up.

Why should British men and women risk their lives? You talk about mothers, fathers and other family members, but people in the military also have families. Why should those families have to bury their loved ones because they have to go and rescue people who ignored government advice?

Evening, everyone. We've moved this thread over to Petitions and Activism as it contained a petition and wasn't really an AIBU.