State Dept Urges Americans to Leave Middle East
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- US State Department on Saturday urged Americans across the Middle East to consider leaving or be ready to depart at short notice, citing possible airspace closures, flight cancellations and potential travel disruptions.
- The advisory was distributed through US embassies in UAE, Bahrain, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, marking a sharper stance than an earlier advisory issued this month that had not recommended preparing to leave.
- President Trump warned on Friday that the US would be "hitting them very hard" if necessary, while Iran vowed to "punish" the US following what American officials described as a heavy exchange of strikes.
- The US military confirmed two days earlier it had carried out a "heavy wave of strikes" on Iran, with the conflict now in its sixth month after a June peace memorandum collapsed when Trump declared the ceasefire "over" in early July.
- Kuwait's Army said its air defence systems intercepted Iranian drones on Saturday, and that explosions heard in the country stemmed from efforts to destroy the incoming aerial threats.
- The prolonged conflict has driven up global oil prices and pushed up fuel costs in the United States, raising concerns over its broader economic impact.
Why it matters: With the conflict in its sixth month and a June peace MoU already collapsed, the State Department's shift from earlier "exercise caution" language to actively urging departure reflects a materially worse assessment of the threat to American citizens and regional aviation. The 10-country embassy alert, paired with Kuwait intercepting Iranian drones on Saturday, raises direct costs for US travelers and Gulf commerce while higher oil prices feed back into US fuel costs.
