WASHINGTON: The largest US diplomatic drawdown in the Middle East since the Iraq War began more than two decades ago is creating an apparently unplanned-for crisis for the Trump administration as the United States and Israel strike Iran in a widening conflict.
The State Department has been forced to close several embassies to the public, shut down at least one consulate, order the departure of embassy staff and families from at least six nations, and advise Americans in 14 countries to leave the region immediately despite the war closing major airports and causing widespread flight cancelations.
Nonetheless, the department said Tuesday that more than 9,000 Americans had safely returned from the Middle East since the weekend, many of them without government assistance, and that it was actively assisting those who have reached out for help, including by securing military aircraft and charter flights.
“We’ve had a couple instances in which we have planes in the air, and on the way, and unfortunately, the airspace gets closed, and they have to turn back around,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters.
The department has been in contact with nearly 3,000 Americans wanting to leave the region or seeking information about how to depart, Dylan Johnson, assistant secretary of state for public affairs, said on X.
Rubio, who spoke on Capitol Hill before briefing lawmakers on the latest developments, said 1,500 people had actually requested help in leaving.
Charter flights were being arranged from Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. In countries where airports or airspace was closed, the department said, it is organizing land travel to countries where flights are available, including Egypt and Oman.
Still, emergency reductions in embassy staffing and post closures since the strikes on Iran began on the weekend have put a severe strain on the ability to help US citizens in need of assistance that might usually be considered routine. Consular services are unavailable in many places and the personnel reductions have limited crucial official engagements with allied and partner governments during the war, including in Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Pakistan, Qatar and Saudi Arabia.
Biggest US drawdown in region since Iraq War
The scale of the American drawdown in the region rivals if not exceeds what was done in the run up to and the immediate aftermath of the Iraq invasion in 2003. Back then, the State Department reduced its staffing in more than a dozen countries and advised US citizens to leave or seriously consider leaving countries throughout the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia from Morocco to Pakistan.
On Monday, Americans were told in a hastily drafted announcement posted on X to leave Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen even though commercial flights and other transportation have been disrupted.
Americans had been advised early Tuesday that the State Department had ordered nonessential diplomats and embassy families to leave Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar and the UAE.
The embassies in Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon and Saudi Arabia also were closed to the public Tuesday. But only one diplomatic mission — the US consulate in Karachi, Pakistan — had completely suspended operations.
A drone attack on the US Embassy in Riyadh caused a “limited fire,” Saudi Arabia’s Defense Ministry said.
The strike in Riyadh caused part of the embassy’s roof to collapse, although there were no reported deaths or injuries to staff, according to an internal State Department memo. It said there were no deaths or injuries after two drones hit the vicinity of the embassy in Kuwait City.
Confusion leads to questions about preparations
Confusion was playing out around the region, raising questions about the preparations for possible military action and its impact on travel and the safety of Americans overseas, which is the State Department’s primary responsibility.
“If Americans are being instructed to leave but are given no viable pathway, that suggests one of two things: The system is not being activated, or the system has atrophied,” said Shawn VanDiver, president of AfghanEvac, a group that supports Afghan nationals seeking to come to the United States after having served with US forces in Afghanistan.
He noted that during the US withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021, the Biden administration had organized the evacuation of 121,000 people in a matter of days.
“Crisis response cannot be partisan,” he said. “It has to survive transitions. It has to be staffed, exercised, and protected. The oversight question is straightforward: Was the post-Afghanistan crisis response architecture sustained, or has it been weakened?”
The State Department did not immediately respond to a query about its planning for embassy and consulate staffing or providing assistance to American citizens in the event of a conflict with Iran.
The US government cannot compel American citizens to leave any country. In rare circumstances, it can make it illegal for US passports to be used for travel to a specific destination. The only such restriction is on North Korea. But before the strikes began, Rubio said Friday that the restriction might also be applied to Iran.
Travel advice from the State Department, including admonitions not to visit a country or to leave it, often is not respected. Many people reside in or have close family living there and either ignore or decline to heed the advice.
There are large numbers of US citizens living in or traveling throughout the Middle East. The State Department, however, refuses to offer an estimate because Americans are not required to report their presence in any country abroad. It says any estimate would be inaccurate.
Tens of thousands of US citizens, many of them dual nationals, are believed to live in Israel, Lebanon, Egypt and Iran.