There are no consistent results from studies confirming that you are at a higher risk of iron deficiency from being on a vegetarian/vegan diet.
With there being 2 types of iron in food, haem iron and non-haem iron, haem iron is the more readily absorbed form of iron, and makes up about 40 per cent of the iron in meat, poultry and fish. Non-haem iron is most commonly from plants and is less well absorbed.
The key then is around the absorption of the iron in your food. For vegetarians this is more challenging in general than for “meat eaters”. The National Health and Medical Research Council’s recommends that those on a vegetarian diet may need to consume up to 1.8 times the amount of iron as those on a non-vegetarian diet. This means a well-balanced vegetarian diet can still provide you with the level of iron your body needs.
Having said this you need to be aware that there are some food items that reduce the ability to absorb non-haem iron. These include
Tannins which can be found in regular tea, some herbal teas (e.g. peppermint tea), red wine, coffee and some berries (such as cranberries)
Calcium (good for bones, but not for iron absorption)
Phytates (phytic acid), which is usually found in legumes, nuts, wholegrain cereals and unprocessed bran. (Processing, soaking and sprouting help reduce phytic acid)
The easiest way to avoid these foods impacting your iron absorption is to not have them with your meals.
On the plus side, vitamin C has been shown to enhance the absorption of the non-haem iron found in plant foods by up to 2 to 3 times if taken at the same time. So to improve your iron intake, combine iron-rich plant foods with foods that are rich in vitamin C such as citrus fruits, kiwifruit; strawberries; tomatoes; capsicum; broccoli; cabbage; spinach and Bok Choy.
For more information on iron rich vegetarian options, please see the following link;
21 Vegetarian Foods That Are Loaded With Iron (healthline.com)