U.S. embassies in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait on Tuesday announced they are closing and a senior State Department official exhorted Americans to leave the Middle East immediately, as the fallout from the escalating military conflict between the U.S., Israel and Iran continues.
The State Department “urges Americans to DEPART NOW” from countries including Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Syria, the UAE and Qatar “using available commercial transportation, due to serious safety risks,” Assistant Secretary of State Mora Namdar wrote in a post on X.
The warning comes as Iran retaliates against a joint U.S.-Israeli attack that killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and dozens of top Iranian officials on Saturday. President Donald Trump has said the operation could continue for four to five weeks. Democrats, meanwhile, caution that it could turn into yet another “forever war,” siphoning American resources to the Middle East indefinitely.
“The heavy and pinpoint bombing, however, will continue, uninterrupted throughout the week or, as long as necessary to achieve our objective of PEACE THROUGHOUT THE MIDDLE EAST AND, INDEED, THE WORLD!” Trump wrote on Truth Social Saturday.
Already, six American service members have been killed. Trump had warned there would likely be more deaths on Truth Social over the weekend. And the American Embassy in Riyadh was attacked by two drones, resulting in fire and minor material damage to its building.
The Riyadh embassy advised Americans living in the country to shelter in place as hostilities continue. The U.S. mission in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday also warned of an imminent threat of "missile and UAV attacks over Dhahran," a key Saudi oil hub, urging Americans to take cover at home and refrain from going outside.
Even before the weekend strikes, American officials were sending diplomatic staff home. Last week, the State Department allowed non-essential personnel to leave the U.S. embassy in Israel due to safety risks, and the embassy in Beirut also pulled out its non-essential staff.
On Tuesday, however, the embassy in Jerusalem wrote on X that it did not have the capacity to “evacuate or directly assist Americans in departing Israel.”
"There are VERY LIMITED options," for U.S. citizens looking to leave the country, U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee wrote on X Monday.
Democrats, meanwhile, are ripping the White House for “failing its citizens.”
“Warnings to citizens to evacuate 3 days into this war, when airspace is closed, is a clear sign of ZERO strategy and planning by the Trump admin,” Sen. Andy Kim (D-N.J.) wrote on X on Tuesday. “Now Americans have limited options to evacuate at an extremely dangerous moment with no government assistance.”
Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) said the guidance was an example of “incompetence everywhere.”
The strikes are broadly unpopular among an American electorate focused on affordability ahead of the midterm elections and wary of being drawn into yet another long-term, expensive foreign conflict.
But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is bullish that the operation will end soon.
“This is going to be a quick and decisive action, and we’re going to create the conditions first for the Iranian people to get control of their destiny to form their own democratically elected government,” he said Monday in an interview on Fox News.
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