Dare Babalola
The US State Department announced on Tuesday that non-emergency personnel are to leave Bahrain, Jordan, and Iraq amid Iran’s retaliation for US-Israeli strikes.
The department, in posts on X, said it had updated travel advisories for Bahrain and Jordan “to reflect the ordered departure of non-emergency US government personnel and family members of government personnel.”
In a separate post, the department said its Iraq travel advisory was updated to reflect that it had on Monday “ordered non-emergency US government employees to leave Iraq due to security concerns.” It did not mention their relatives.
The escalating conflict began Saturday following joint US-Israeli strikes on Iran, which Tehran claimed killed dozens of civilians, including the country’s supreme leader, prompting retaliatory attacks.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards claimed to have targeted a US air base in Bahrain, according to a statement released by the elite force and carried by the official IRNA news agency on Tuesday.
In Iraq, hundreds of protesters in the capital, Baghdad, many dressed in black, attempted Sunday to storm the fortified Green Zone where the US embassy is located, after the killing of Iran’s supreme leader.
In Jordan, the US embassy in the capital Amman said Monday it had temporarily evacuated its staff due to an unspecified threat.
The kingdom said it has also intercepted more than a dozen missiles since Iran started retaliatory attacks on Saturday.
US embassy in Saudi Arabia confirms attack, closes temporarily
The United States embassy in Riyadh confirmed an attack and urged people to stay away, saying it would be closed on Tuesday.
“Avoid the embassy until further notice due to an attack on the facility,” a statement said, urging American citizens to “shelter in place”.
US embassy in Kuwait closes temporarily
Also in Kuwait, the US embassy on Tuesday said it was closed until further notice, a day after an AFP correspondent saw smoke rising from the mission following Iranian attacks on the country.
“Due to ongoing regional tensions, the US Embassy in Kuwait will be closed until further notice. We have cancelled all regular and emergency consular appointments,” the embassy said in a statement on X.
