Australians who were advised by the government to fleeIranvia its border with Azerbaijan say they were marooned at the crossing without consular help for days – with two men taken into Iranian police custody and a grandmother taken into medical care after running out of medication while waiting for assistance.
Rose, 70, who asked for her real name not to be used due to security fears, had rushed to Iran to visit a relative in the south of the country at the beginning of May. She was due to fly from Tehran on 17 June.
But on 13 June, Israellaunched its missile assault on Iran. When the attack began, the Sydney grandmother left Tehran, eventually making her way to the Azerbaijani border on the Caspian coast after being advised it was wise to do so by the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
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Her daughter said she informed Dfat that Rose was en route to the crossing on Tuesday 17 June.
Her daughter, who also asked for anonymity to protect her mother, said Rose and her family were told that the “government had consular staff in Azerbaijan, including at its border crossing, to support Australians leaving Iran”.
Rose arrived at the border at Astara on Friday 20 June, just hours after the Australian embassy in Tehran was evacuated, her daughter said. When Rose tried to cross into Azerbaijan, she was told by border officialsthat she needed a visa and a code from Dfat to enter the country.
Australians must obtain an Azerbaijani visa online, then apply for a code to enter the country from the Australian embassy in Turkey – which covers Azerbaijan – after the Azerbaijan government’s approval. Australians can then enter Azerbaijan with the correct individual 11-digit code.
According to the Australian government’s Smart Traveller website, it can take four business days or longer for a border crossing code to be issued.
With patchy internet connection at the border, she arranged a visa with the help of her family, applied for a code, and began waiting.
On Wednesday evening this week, Dfat’s advice was that it had “consular staff in Azerbaijan at the border to provide assistance as required”.
At 6.30am on Thursday, six days after applying to cross the border, Rose’s family was sent her code, by which time she had been taken into medical care because of her heart condition. She ran out of medication over the weekend.
Rose said she had seen American, British and Belgian citizens receive their codes within minutes or hours.
“I was sitting there for the last five days – they were all going. But I’m the only one [still here],” Rose said on Wednesday, before her code had arrived.
“Unfortunately, I’m trying to call Dfat and there’s not a sense of any help – they just say ‘We are sorry, but we can’t do anything about it,’” she said.
“Of course I am afraid. It’s lucky there is no fighting between these governments, that’s good, but we are not sure how long it will last.”
She is now receiving treatment in a clinic in another Iranian city, the name of which she does not want disclosed due to safety fears.
Rose’s daughter in Sydney said she was angry about her mother’s treatment.
“She ran out of critical heart medication over the weekend and despite this, Dfat still failed to cut through whatever red tape was holding this border crossing closed to our citizens,” she said.
“The government sent her to a locked door. We didn’t expect a plane or any assistance beyond giving her authorisation to go through, using a visa she had obtained on her own - but they failed,” she said.
“To tell vulnerable people who trust them that they have help at a border for them when they clearly didn’t … They didn’t change the message even when they became well aware that the process was not working.”
Brothers and business co-owners Sam, 33, and David, 35 – whose names have also been anonymised – had been due to return home to Perth on 14 June after visiting relatives in Iran.
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Dfat advised them totravel to Astara, in Iran, and arrived on Saturday 21 June. They applied to the Australian embassy in Ankara for their code to enter Azerbaijan that day.
Sam received his code on Thursday morning. As of Thursday afternoon Australian time, David was yet to receive his code. Sam’s Iranian visa expired five days ago.
Sam said he and David were arrested by Iranian police in Astara on Tuesday evening and taken into custody for four hours.
“They treated us very bad, they did a body search and searched everything we had, they asked us to open our phone and they accused us of spying for Israel. They kept us in police custody for four hours,” he said.
“That was terrifying, I was scared. They told us to go to our hotel and not leave until we cross the border.”
Sam said he would not leave Iran without his brother.
“It’s a very confusing situation going between Ankara and Canberra – they are not very well organised for this,” he said. “The team in Ankara is not coordinating with the team in Canberra.”
Sam said he had watched as Japanese, German, Ukrainian and Italian groups were escorted over the border.
“We didn’t even get basic help to cross the border. We have not seen a single Australian official at the border,” he said.
Guardian Australia understands the foreign minister,Penny Wong, has raised Australia’s concerns with the speed of processing of border crossing codes with her Azerbaijani counterpart. The government’s concerns have also been raised by Australia’s heads of mission in Turkey and Iran.
It is understood Azerbaijan authorities are overwhelmed by the number of visa and code requests after Israeli and US airstrikes on Iran began.
Over 3,000 Australians in Iran have applied for Dfat assistance since 13 June.
Dfat said that officers in Azerbaijan, including at its border crossing were “working hard to support Australians seeking to leave Iran”.
Officers have been at the border crossing during opening hours every day since 23 June, a spokesperson said.
“Dfat is working with Azerbaijan authorities to help facilitate border crossing codes. We acknowledge that the number of people seeking to leave as well as the unstable internet connectivity in Iran is making the border crossing more difficult,” a spokesperson said.
“Unfortunately, at this stage our ability to provide consular services is extremely limited due to the situation on the ground.”