The U.S. State Department ordered nonessential staff to evacuate the U.S. embassy in Baghdad, amid government efforts to decrease the number of personnel in the Middle East, the Associated Press reported on Wednesday.
The department also authorized nonessential staff and their relatives to depart from Bahrain and Kuwait, and U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth approved a voluntary evacuation from U.S. embassies and locations throughout the region.
The departure order, authorizations and voluntary evacuation are “due to the potential for regional unrest,” per the report. It added that “tensions in the region have been rising in recent days as talks between the United States and Iran over its rapidly advancing nuclear program appear to have hit an impasse.”
AP cited two U.S. officials, one of whom told the outlet that “the U.S. military was working with the State Department and its allies in the region ‘to maintain a constant state of readiness.’”
A State Department official told JNS that U.S. President Donald Trump “is committed to keeping Americans safe, both at home and abroad.”
“In keeping with that commitment, we are constantly assessing the appropriate personnel posture at all our embassies,” the official said. “Based on our latest analysis, we decided to reduce the footprint of our mission in Iraq.”
“I think these U.S. steps are not insignificant,” Jason Brodsky, policy director of United Against Nuclear Iran, told JNS. “With the Iranians delivering a negative response to the U.S. nuclear proposal and the president’s deadline for a deal expiring this week, this could mean many things.”
“It may be part of a U.S. effort to further bolster the development of a credible military threat against Tehran, preparatory work as a prelude to a strike by Israel and/or the United States on Iran’s nuclear program,” Brodsky told JNS.
He added that it could also be “an attempt to bolster U.S. defenses against Iranian attempts to retaliate over a historic censure resolution at the International Atomic Energy Agency finding Tehran in violation of its non-proliferation obligations for the first time in 20 years.”
“The U.S. government may also have intelligence that Iran plans to start resuming attacks against U.S. forces in the region amid stalled nuclear talks,” said Brodsky.
Barak Ravid, of Axios, reported that the voluntary evacuation covers “military dependents from locations across the CENTCOM area of responsibility.”
U.S. Central Command “is working in close coordination with our Department of State counterparts, as well as our allies and partners in the region to maintain a constant state of readiness to support any number of missions around the world at any time,” Ravid added.
“The safety and security of our service members and their families remains our highest priority, and U.S. Central Command is monitoring the developing tension in the Middle East,” he wrote.
On Wednesday, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations issued an advisory that “vessels are advised to transit the Arabian Gulf, Gulf of Oman and Straits of Hormuz with caution.”