Japanese Nationals in 4 Gulf Countries to Be Evacuated with Charter Flights

The Yomiuri Shimbun

13:19 JST, March 6, 2026

The government will dispatch charter flights to Saudi Arabia and Oman to evacuate Japanese nationals from Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates as situation in the Middle East deteriorates, the Foreign Ministry announced Thursday.

Some airports in the four countries have closed, making it difficult for Japanese nationals to leave.

Those wishing to evacuate will board four buses that will take them to airports in Saudi Arabia and Oman. From there, they will return to Japan via two charter flights. The ministry on Thursday raised its travel alert for six countries and regions — Kuwait, eastern Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, the UAE and Oman — to Level 3, or “Avoid All Travel.”

On the same day, the Defense Ministry began preparing to dispatch Air Self-Defense Force aircraft to countries around Iran to help transport Japanese nationals.

Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi said in a post on X that the ministry was deciding where to deploy the aircraft and which aircraft to use.