Lamola: Iran waived an exit visa to aid people trapped in Middle East, and that was largely it

International Relations and Cooperation Minister Ronald Lamola. Picture: Gallo Images/Brenton Geach Minister of International Relations and Cooperation Ronald Lamola has revealed that Iran’s assistance to foreign nationals during the current war amounted to little more than scrapping an exit visa requirement, with himself admitting uncertainty about what else Tehran was prepared to do. Lamola said when the US-Israel war on Iran began on 28 February 2026, the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs moved quickly to notify embassies in Tehran of one concrete measure: foreign nationals would not need exit visas to leave the country.

Under normal circumstances, that visa is a mandatory requirement. In a war, with airspace shut and borders suddenly the only way out, removing that bureaucratic step mattered. But according to Lamola, that was more or less where Iran’s assistance ended.

Lamola noted that Iran had taken the same step during the 12-day war of June 2025, suggesting it has become a default emergency measure rather than a coordinated evacuation strategy. He acknowledged that the waiver addressed a process that could “significantly delay evacuations in an emergency situation like war, which demands speed and urgency.” However, a waiver is not a corridor, a convoy, or a guarantee of safe passage. With Iranian airspace completely shut down from the start of the conflict, the only routes out were overland. “The only option for those wishing to evacuate was through land border crossings with countries such as Azerbaijan, Armenia, Pakistan, Iraq, and Turkey.