U.S. cuts staff at 4 Mideast embassies over Iran threats

The U.S. State Department is cutting staff at its embassies in Jordan, Lebanon, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates after U.S. intelligence concluded that Iran has stepped up efforts to target American personnel, The Associated Press reported Friday, Oct. 23.

The drawdowns follow Wednesday’s order for non-essential staff and families of U.S. government employees to leave Saudi Arabia, where Houthi attacks have kept Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport closed since Oct. 10.

All four embassies were already on “restricted operations” status, which had shrunk their staff, AP reported. They remain open, and staff there are not required to leave. AP said the number of people being cut at each embassy and the timeline were not disclosed.

The AP obtained a memo sent Friday to Secretary of State Marco Rubio by Director of National Intelligence Jay Clayton. Three U.S. officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed it was sent to Rubio in his roles as secretary of state and national security adviser. Axios reported on it first. “We have received intelligence that Iran has substantially increased efforts to target U.S. personnel,” Clayton wrote, according to AP. He added that “the lethal plotting efforts by the Iranians against U.S. citizens have reached advanced stages.”

The State Department’s public announcement cited increased threats from the Houthis, the Iran-backed rebel group in Yemen, and did not mention direct Iranian threats to personnel, AP reported. The three officials said threats from both Iran and the Houthis are related to the staffing changes. U.S. officials strongly denied that the changes are tied to possible new U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran, AP said.

The Saudi order is the clearest sign of the Houthi threat. The State Department said Wednesday that “Iranian-supported Houthis have engaged in hostilities against Saudi Arabia” and that the hostilities “have the potential to escalate rapidly beyond that immediate area,” according to a Scripps News report. The Saudi-led coalition said the Houthis fired five drones early Wednesday that were intercepted over Madinah and the Eastern Region. Saudi Arabia’s Energy Ministry said debris from an intercepted drone killed two people and injured two at an Aramco-operated oil field in the southeast. The Houthis claim, without evidence, that Saudi Arabia supplied government forces through the Riyadh airport.

Scripps reported that the Riyadh embassy was badly damaged at the start of the Iran war and operated with a skeleton staff for months. Lufthansa and Air France have cancelled Riyadh flights through mid-November.

Tension over Iran is also rising in U.S. politics. At a Florida rally on Friday, President Donald Trump said the United States “may do another little Epic Fury” against Iran, the Times of Israel reported. The White House has not announced new military action, and the quote was not independently verified here.

Canadians travelling to or living in the Gulf and the wider region can check Global Affairs Canada’s current advice at travel.gc.ca. For earlier developments, see our reports on the Houthi strike on a Yemen camp, Egypt’s pledge of help to Saudi Arabia and the Badr defence pact signed by Turkey, Qatar, Pakistan and Indonesia.

The State Department has not said when staffing levels could return to normal.

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Via The Associated Press (Matthew Lee), Scripps News and the Times of Israel.