The United States is preparing a partial evacuation of its Iraqi embassy and will allow the military to leave locations in the Middle East due to increased security risks in the region. This was reported by Reuters sources in the US and Iraq, reports UNN.
Details
Four American and two Iraqi sources did not specify what security risks prompted the decision, and reports of a potential evacuation led to a rise in oil prices of more than 4%.
"The State Department regularly reviews the status of American personnel abroad, and this decision was made as a result of a recent review," White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly told Reuters, responding to reports of a partial evacuation, without providing further details.
A White House official said US President Donald Trump was aware of the move.
The partial evacuation comes at a time of heightened tension in the region, which is already engulfed in fire after 18 months of war in Gaza, raising fears of a wider conflagration that would pit the US and Israel against Iran and its allies.
Trump has repeatedly threatened to strike Iran if negotiations over its nuclear program fail, and on Wednesday he said he was losing confidence that Tehran would agree to halt uranium enrichment, a key US demand.
Iranian Defense Minister Aziz Nasirzadeh also said on Wednesday that Iran would retaliate against US bases in the region if nuclear talks fail and it is attacked.
The United States has a military presence in Iraq, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates.
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth authorized the voluntary departure of military dependents from locations throughout the Middle East, a US official said. Another US official said it mainly concerns family members living in Bahrain, where most of them are based.
"The State Department intends to order the departure for the US Embassy in Baghdad. The intention is to do this by commercial means, but the US military is ready to help if assistance is offered," a third US official said.
An Iraqi Foreign Ministry official said a "partial evacuation" of US embassy staff had been confirmed due to what the official said were "potential security concerns related to possible regional tensions."
Another US official said there had been no change in operations at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, the largest US military base in the Middle East, and that no evacuation order had been issued for staff or families associated with the US Embassy in Qatar, which is operating normally.