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Foreign Ministry issues travel warnings to some Middle East regions amid Israel-Iran hostilities

Published: 13 Jun. 2025, 19:40

A view of Jerusalem's Old City, with the Dome of the Rock shrine in the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, closed to worshippers after Israel's Homefront Command banned public gatherings following an Israeli military strike on Iran on June 13. [AP/YONHAP]

Seoul’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued on Friday special travel advisories for some areas of Israel and Iran, in consideration of the rapidly worsening situation in the Middle East following Israel’s airstrikes on Iran and Tehran’s retaliatory attacks the same day.

With the measure, the existing Level 2 travel advisory in both countries is upgraded to a special travel advisory of Level 2.5, and the existing Level 3 and Level 4 travel advisories for some areas of Israel and Level 3 for some areas of Iran will remain in place, the Foreign Ministry said.

Level 3, which recommends immediate exit from the areas, is issued for the West Bank of Israel, parts of northern Israel including Nahariya, Maaloth Tarsia, Safed and areas north of Kfar Naum. The same level is issued for the Turkiye-Iraq border, the Sistan-Baluchestan Province of Iran, and the three Persian Gulf coastal provinces of Khuzestan, Bushehr and Hormozgan.

Level 4, which prohibits all travel, is issued for the northern Israel border area with Lebanon and the Gaza Strip.

All new levels of travel advisories announced Friday go into effect beginning Saturday.

“We ask our citizens to cancel or postpone their trips to Israel and Iran, and our citizens currently in these two countries are asked to move to safe areas unless they have urgent business,” the Foreign Ministry said.

The ministry also said that it will continue to closely monitor the situation in Israel and Iran and review the need for further adjustments to travel warnings.

BY LIM JEONG-WON [[email protected]]