The US has announced it will pull non-essential staff and their families out of its embassies in Iraq, as well as some military bases in Kuwait and Bahrain, amid reports that Israel is preparing a strike on Iran.
Hundreds of personnel are reportedly set to be withdrawn, with President Trump saying the region “could be a dangerous place”.
Israel has long been reported to favour military action against Iran as talks between Tehran and Washington over a new nuclear deal seem to have stalled.
The Islamic Republic has publicly rejected any agreement that would see it give up its programme of uranium enrichment, which the regime insists it will use for civilian energy projects.
But Jerusalem is deeply concerned that Iran is actually looking to develop nuclear weapons which could be used to strike the Jewish State.
According to a report from Axios last week, Israel gave a commitment to the US that it would not launch strikes unless the negotiations failed, with Trump understood to favour a diplomatic solution.
However, patience is apparently wearing thin as Iran looks set to breach long-standing enrichment limits set it in the previous nuclear deal – the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) in 2015.
Prime Minister Netanyahu is also understood to be pushing the White House to impose harsher restrictions on Tehran’s nuclear efforts, with Israel said to favour complete denuclearisation.
Trump and Netanyahu reportedly held a “tense” 40-minute phone call earlier this week, during which the Israeli premier apparently argued in favour of military action.
A sixth round of talks, led by Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, is still scheduled for Sunday and it is not know whether any strike is imminent, though US media is reporting that Israel is “ready” to launch one.
Addressing the withdrawal, a State Department spokesperson told BBC News: “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."
The exact reason for the pullout was not confirmed, but it came as Iranian Defence Minister Aziz Nasirzadeh said the regime would retaliate against US bases in the region if it was struck by Israel.
An Iranian official also told Reuters that it had been alerted to the prospect of an Israeli attack by a “friendly” country in the region. But they claimed the potential action was designed to “influence Tehran to change its position about its nuclear rights” and reiterated that the regime would not give up uranium enrichment under any circumstances.
