WASHINGTON – The State Department is scaling back staffing at four U.S. embassies in the Middle East following intelligence assessments that Iran has intensified attempts to target American personnel both in the region and beyond.
In a Friday memo to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Director of National Intelligence Jay Clayton said U.S. intelligence agencies “have received intelligence that Iran has substantially increased efforts to target U.S. personnel.”
Clayton warned that Iranian efforts to carry out deadly plots against U.S. citizens “have reached advanced stages” across the Middle East and in several other countries.
The Associated Press obtained the memo after Axios first reported on it. Three U.S. officials, who spoke anonymously because of the sensitivity of the intelligence, confirmed that Clayton sent the document to Rubio, who serves as both secretary of state and national security adviser.
The disclosure came soon after the State Department announced personnel reductions at U.S. embassies in Jordan, Lebanon, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. According to the three officials, the staffing changes are connected to threats posed by Iran as well as by Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels.
All four diplomatic missions are already operating under “restricted operations” measures, which have limited the number of personnel stationed there. Despite the drawdowns, the embassies will continue operating.
The move differs from the policy in Saudi Arabia, where nonessential U.S. government employees and their families were ordered to leave on Wednesday. Personnel in Jordan, Lebanon, Qatar and the UAE have not been directed to depart.
When it announced the reductions, the State Department highlighted growing danger from the Houthis in Yemen but made no direct reference to threats against U.S. personnel originating from Iran.
U.S. officials have firmly rejected any suggestion that Washington is connected to possible future American or Israeli strikes against Iran.
