British Airways has issued an urgent message to passengers with flights booked to Dubai after US-Israeli strikes on Iran at the weekend.

The strikes took place in the early hours of Saturday (February 28) morning in what the US and Israel described as a “pre-emptive” strike against a Tehran government intent on developing nuclear weapons. The attack prompted retaliation from Iran, with missiles reported to have targeted Israel and countries across the Middle East. Subsequent airspace closures created major disruption for airlines, with almost half of the flights scheduled to depart from London Heathrow to destinations in the Middle East being cancelled on Sunday.

The UK Foreign Office has since updated its travel advice to warn against all but essential travel to Israel and Palestine, as well as the United Arab Emirates (UAE), which includes the popular holiday destination Dubai.

British Airways said it is “closely monitoring the situation” in the Middle East and has cancelled “a number of” its flights.

The airline is urging passengers with flights booked to act quickly if they wish to change their booking, as this can be done free of charge up to March 15. Meanwhile, passengers travelling up to March 8 can request a full refund.

In a message to passengers, the airline said it is “closely monitoring the situation” and that those due to fly between London Heathrow and Dubai, as well as several other countries in the Middle East, have up to March 15 to change their flights free of charge.

British Airways said in a statement: “We are closely monitoring the situation and have cancelled a number of our flights to the Middle East. Safety is always our top priority and we would never operate a flight unless it was safe to do so.

“If you are due to fly between London Heathrow and Abu Dhabi, Amman, Bahrain, Doha, Dubai or Tel Aviv up to and including 15 March you can change your flight date free of charge to travel on or before 29 March. Customers travelling up to and including 8 March may also request a full refund.

“If you would like to do this, please call our contact centres on 0800 727 800 in the UK or 020 3250 0145 where a member of our team will be happy to assist. You can also find useful information, including details of your consumer rights, at ba.com/helpme. Thank you for your understanding and we look forward to welcoming you on board soon.”

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British nationals already in Middle Eastern countries are being advised by the Foreign Office to “immediately shelter in place” and have been told to register their presence in the UAE.

Officials are understood to be working on plans for the potential evacuation of more than 100,000 Britons from the Middle East.

Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper indicated that 102,000 British nationals have registered their presence in the region and a total of about 300,000 British citizens are in Gulf countries targeted by Iran.