US embassies urge Americans to consider leaving Middle East

US embassies across the Middle East urged American citizens on Saturday, August 1, to consider leaving the region or be ready to leave if the conflict escalates, warning of possible flight cancellations, airspace closures and other travel disruption.

“Americans in the region should consider departing, or be prepared to depart should there be escalation,” said a security alert posted online by US embassies in Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

The messages urged US citizens to check flight details and follow safety advice from local authorities. Americans in Jordan were told not to visit military bases in the country, which the alerts said had recently come under Iranian missile attack. Americans in Israel were urged to find the location of the nearest bomb shelter.

A post on the US Embassy Jerusalem site described Iran’s government as unpredictable and cited what it called recent Iranian attacks in the region, including Egypt. The US embassy in Beirut said the mission remained on ordered departure status, meaning family members and non-essential US government personnel were still relocated outside Lebanon.

The alerts came a day after US President Donald Trump threatened to hit Iran “very hard”. Iran and the United States have been at war since February 28. A period of calm followed a ceasefire, but that collapsed with a return of strikes.

Iran’s military accused Washington of escalating tensions. Ali Abdollahi, head of Iran’s military central command, said in a statement read on state television that any country serving as a defensive shield for the United States would be “engulfed by the flames of war”. Mohammad Mokhber, an adviser to Iran’s supreme leader, also warned against attacks on Iranian infrastructure.

Iran and the United States resumed overnight exchanges of fire last month after a days-long lull, although there were no reported strikes overnight Friday to Saturday.

On Wednesday, a drone struck a US-owned gas vessel moored in an Egyptian port, causing a fire. Egypt is investigating and has not accused any group of launching the attack. A British maritime agency said on Saturday that an “unknown projectile” struck a tanker off the coast of Oman.

Maritime trade tracking firm Kpler said traffic through the Strait of Hormuz had dropped as the United States and Iran vie for control of the waterway. Iran has maintained control over navigation through Hormuz since the war began, requiring vessels to obtain permission and pay transit fees before using the strait.

On the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen denied seeking to charge ships for passage. The waterway connects the Red Sea to the Indian Ocean and, through the Suez Canal, the Mediterranean.

On the Lebanon front, Israel’s military said it killed three Hezbollah fighters in southern Lebanon on Saturday, while one Israeli soldier was moderately injured during what it called a close-quarters encounter with Hezbollah militants.