Non-essential US embassy staff and their dependants in Baghdad are to be evacuated from Iraq due to heightened security risks, US government sources have said.
Officials did not say exactly what prompted the removal, but have been told Israel was ready to launch an operation into Iran, the BBC’s US partner CBS reported.
This was part of the reason some Americans were advised to leave the region, officials said, adding that they anticipated Iran could retaliate on certain US sites in Iraq.
It comes as US talks over Iran’s nuclear programme appear to have stalled in recent days.
US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff is still planning on holding talks with Iran about its nuclear program on Sunday, officials told CBS.
Witkoff will meet Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in Muscat, Axios reported.
A US state department official told the BBC: “We are constantly assessing the appropriate personnel posture at all our embassies.
“Based on our latest analysis, we decided to reduce the footprint of our mission in Iraq.”
Speaking at the Kennedy Center, US President Donald Trump told reporters Americans were advised to leave the region “because it could be a dangerous place, and we’ll see what happens”.
Trump also reiterated that the US did not want Iran to develop a nuclear weapon. “We’re not going to allow that,” he said.
The president has hoped to strike a deal to stop Tehran developing a nuclear weapon.
Earlier this week, he held a 40-minute phone call, which was said to be “tense”, with Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has long argued for a military rather than diplomatic approach.
