The U.S. State Department urged all Americans to depart 14 Middle Eastern countries on Monday, including Israel, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.
The department cited “serious safety risks” throughout the Middle East and told Americans to “depart now” using commercial transportation.
The @SecRubio @StateDept urges Americans to DEPART NOW from the countries below using available commercial transportation, due to serious safety risks. Americans who need State Department assistance arranging to depart via commercial means, CALL US 24/7 at +1-202-501-4444 (from… pic.twitter.com/vdplAik2Sq
— Assistant Secretary Mora Namdar (@AsstSecStateCA) March 2, 2026
The State Department frequently orders the departure of non-essential U.S. government staff or advises U.S. citizens to leave individual countries in the Middle East amid various conflicts, but Monday’s advisory may be the widest-ranging departure recommendation that the department has made in the region since the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
It follows Iranian drone and missile attacks against a swath of countries in the region, focusing largely on Israel and close U.S. partners in the Persian Gulf that host U.S. military bases.
Washington now advises that U.S. citizens depart from Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel, “the West Bank,” Gaza, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen.
Hundreds of thousands of Americans live in those countries at any given time.
