Iranians scheming to assassinate US personnel, memo to Rubio warns

The Iranian regime has increased efforts to target U.S. officials in the Middle East and elsewhere, Director of National Intelligence Jay Clayton said in an unclassified memo sent to Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Friday and obtained by Axios.

“The lethal plotting efforts by Iranians against U.S. citizens have reached advanced stages in both the Middle East and certain other countries,” the memo reads.

The underlying intelligence concerning Tehran’s plotting has already been shared with senior U.S. State Department officials, according to the memo.

As the director of national intelligence, Clayton oversees 18 member agencies of the U.S. Intelligence Community and he serves as the primary intelligence adviser to the president.

Separately, CNN reported on Friday that the U.S. has rushed to reduce its staff in Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Lebanon.

A State Department official told the U.S. network that these countries “will see temporary changes to staffing levels under restricted operations.”

The departures of some diplomats and their family members are described in the report as “chaotic déjà vu” as many of them have only recently returned to their posts in the wake of their previous departures during the war with Iran earlier this year.

“This echoes the chaos families experienced earlier this year. Some had barely settled back in before being told to leave again,” Nikki Gamer, the spokesperson for the American Foreign Service Association, told CNN.

“They are understandably upset, confused, and angry,” she added.

U.S. officials are concerned that the Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen could expand their attacks beyond Saudi Arabia to other states in the region, Axios reported.

The State Department on Wednesday denied a report that it was preparing to order diplomatic personnel and family members to leave several Gulf countries, saying the departure order applied only to Saudi Arabia.

“This is inaccurate,” spokesman Tommy Pigott wrote on X, confirming that the order covered non-emergency U.S. government employees and their families in Saudi Arabia.

“Iranian-supported Houthis have increasingly engaged in hostilities against Saudi Arabia, including attacks on civilian airports and other critical infrastructure resulting in civilian casualties and severe travel disruptions,” Pigott tweeted.

“The safety and security of Department personnel and their families remain our highest priority, and we will continue to take all necessary steps to protect and support them,” he added.

Also on Wednesday, NBC News reported that that the U.S. military has been quietly scaling back its troops’ presence throughout the Middle East, citing two U.S. officials and two individuals familiar with knowledge on the subject.

Similar reductions in the Middle East took place before the start of “Operation Epic Fury” against Iran on Feb. 28.

‘Little Operation Epic Fury’

On Friday, President Donald Trump spoke at a rally in Florida about whether he will restart strikes against Iran or settle on a deal to end the conflict.

“We may do another little Operation Epic Fury, or they’ll agree,” he said.

“If they’re smart, they’ll just say, ‘Let’s get down to business.’ But I doubt they’ll do that because, perhaps they’re not smart,” Trump added.

U.S. media reported earlier in the week that several options regarding the resumption of a military confrontation with Iran were presented to Trump and his national security team in recent weeks.

Among these options are strikes on Pickaxe Mountain or against Iran’s strategic islands, such as its chief sea port for oil exports Kharg Island in the Persian Gulf, according to information relayed to NBC News by an anonymous U.S. official.

Netanyahu orders security bodies to overthrow Iranian regime

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday denied a Financial Times report that the Jewish state recently planned to attack Iran but was stopped by his American counterpart.

“This report is not true,” Netanyahu said in an interview with Israel National News. The premier declined to elaborate further.

On Wednesday, the prime minister said that he had directed the security services to pursue the overthrow of the Iranian regime, calling it the only way to eliminate the nuclear threat from Tehran.

“There is only one way to remove this threat once and for all: overthrow the regime in Iran. And that is my directive to the IDF, the Mossad and the security branches,” Netanyahu told an IDF officer course graduation ceremony.

“As long as they are here, as long as they strive to acquire horrific weapons, the State of Israel faces an existential threat,” Netanyahu said. “And our duty, the duty of all of us, is to save the nation.”