A total of 102,000 Britons have registered their presence in the Middle East with the UK government, as Iranian strikes continue across the region.
Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper told the BBC there were an estimated 300,000 British citizens in Gulf countries, where much of the airspace is closed.
She said many of those trapped were holidaymakers, passengers transiting through or people on business visits.
Foreign Office sources said no evacuation was imminent but the government was preparing for potential scenarios if commercial flights remained grounded.
British nationals in Bahrain, Israel, Kuwait, Palestine, Qatar and United Arab Emirates have been urged to register their presence to receive updates from the Foreign Office.
The government has previously used registration schemes to provide urgent updates to people affected by international crises but the number of people and countries affected in this case is unprecedented.
Cooper told BBC Breakfast the situation was “deeply stressful” for those affected.
She urged people to follow local advice, which in most countries was to shelter in place.
Asked if the government was planning to launch an evacuation, Cooper said: “We are in close contact, for example, with the travel industry, with airline companies and airports and also with the governments in the region.”
She added: “But we will need to provide updates for people as we go along… That’s why we’re encouraging people to register their presence so we know where they are so we can get information to them swiftly.”
Cooper said that in previous similar situations the government had wanted to work with airline companies so people could fly home in the normal way.
Layla Hamood and Matthew McGinn, who are on their honeymoon with their three-year-old son, are among those stuck in Dubai.
The family have not left their hotel since the attacks started.
“It’s been terrifying to be honest,” Layla told BBC Breakfast. “The bombing hasn’t stopped. We can hear the missiles.”
She added: “No one knows what to do. We’re in a limbo, we don’t know how we can get home.”
Nearly half of the flights scheduled to depart from London Heathrow to the region on Sunday were cancelled, according to analytics company Cirium.
British Airways and Virgin Atlantic are among the airlines which have cancelled or rerouted some flights.
Qatar Airways said on Monday morning that all its flights remained suspended.
Emirates has suspended all operations to and from Dubai until 11:00 on Tuesday.
Dubai Airports confirmed a small number of flights would be allowed to operate for the city’s two airports on Monday evening.
A limited number of flights also left Abu Dhabi’s Zayed International Airport on Monday.
Iran has retaliated to US and Israeli strikes with attacks on US assets and countries in the region with a US military presence, including Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Iraq.
In Dubai, luxury hotels and the city’s main airport, the world’s busiest by passenger traffic, are among the sites which have been damaged.
One person has been killed and 11 others injured at airports in Dubai and Abu Dhabi since the strikes began.
Meanwhile, EasyJet has cancelled all its flights to and from Cyprus on Monday.
Paphos Airport, the second civilian airport on the island, was evacuated earlier after a drone was spotted in the airspace.
It comes after Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides said an Iranian drone crashed into a British RAF base on the island on Sunday.
No casualties were reported and the base sustained “minimal damage”, but the UK’s Ministry of Defence said family members would be moved to alternative accommodation as a precautionary measure.
Source: BBC
