After launching Iran war, White House scrambles to evacuate stranded Americans

WASHINGTON — As Iran escalates its retaliation against the United States, the Trump administration is facing heavy criticism for telling hundreds of thousands of Americans to evacuate the Middle East before arranging a way out for them. 

The State Department on Tuesday announced it would facilitate charter flights for US citizens in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Jordan and "will continue to secure additional capacity as security conditions allow." The move came a day after the department urged Americans in nearly every Middle Eastern country to “depart now” on commercial flights, despite the fact that many airlines have already suspended or limited service to and from the region. 

Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, President Donald Trump defended not having previously issued a region-wide evacuation order, claiming the war “happened very quickly”— even though the US military buildup in the region had been underway for weeks. A 24/7 task force set up by the State Department to provide Americans with consular assistance and safety information became operational on Saturday, multiple US officials told Al-Monitor.  

The State Department has advertised a hotline for Americans who need assistance arranging to depart via commercial means. But when Al-Monitor called the number late Tuesday afternoon, an automated message said to “not rely on the US government for assisted departure or evacuation at this time." 

The department says 9,000 Americans have left the Middle East on their own since the strikes began. Asked if there was an adequate evacuation plan in place, Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Tuesday responded by saying airport closures were a challenge: "We can have the planes lined up to go, but we can't get them to land because we don't have the permissions to land there." 

Former career diplomats told Al-Monitor they were stunned by the Trump administration's response to the crisis it initiated, saying the State Department should have reduced its diplomatic footprint sooner while working to evacuate Americans in anticipation of Iranian retaliation. 

Despite the increasing possibility of military intervention, only the US embassies in Jerusalem and Beirut authorized the departure of their nonemergency personnel before the strikes. Both ambassador posts in those countries are held by political appointees. 

Iran appears to be actively targeting US missions in the Gulf, with drone attacks on the embassies in Riyadh and Kuwait City. On Tuesday, Rubio confirmed that a drone hit a parking lot next to the US Consulate in Dubai. 

Since the US operation began overnight Saturday, the State Department has shuttered its embassies in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Lebanon while authorizing nonemergency US government personnel and their families in Jordan, Bahrain, Qatar, Iraq and the UAE to depart. Some contend the authorized departures came too late. 

"That's the first step you take as storm clouds gather,” said Barbara Leaf, the Biden administration's former assistant secretary of state for the region. “You have to find a sweet spot between pulling out enough of your nonessential embassy personnel and their families to reduce exposure while not depriving the post of the ability to help American citizens.” 

Trump has been threatening strikes against Iran since mid-January, first over the country’s massacre of peaceful protesters and later over its refusal to abandon its nuclear program. Three rounds of indirect talks between Washington and Tehran failed to produce an agreement that would allow Trump to retreat from the red lines he had drawn.  

Jeffrey Feltman, who was the US ambassador to Lebanon during the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah and oversaw the evacuation of nearly 15,000 Americans that summer, said the State Department should have begun to “build a tempo of warnings” weeks ago so that Americans would reconsider traveling amid the rising regional tensions.  

“I find it absolutely irresponsible that Trump was talking about the possibility of war for the past several weeks without publicly starting to raise concerns about the number of US citizens who could end up being trapped in the region,” said Feltman.

Under US law, the State Department must follow a “no double standard” policy, meaning that when it shares credible threat information with US government personnel, it is generally required to also inform private citizens of the potential danger. 

“The departure of staff from the embassies should have been paired with public warnings to American citizens to take steps to depart as well,” said Victoria Taylor, former deputy assistant secretary of state for Iran and Iraq under the Biden administration.

“It’s very clear one of the things we should have been prepared for was the closure of airspace and what that would have meant for the thousands and thousands of American citizens that are either traveling to the region or even resident in the region,” Taylor said. 

In an alert Tuesday, the US Embassy in Jerusalem said it is “not in a position at this time to evacuate or directly assist Americans in departing Israel,” directing them instead to the Israeli Ministry of Tourism’s shuttles to Israel’s southern border with Egypt.

Later Tuesday, a State Department official said that so far the department had “assisted” more than 130 American citizens in departing Israel. Another official said US embassies are working to help Americans travel to countries with available charter flights, including by organizing buses, and the department’s call center is also reaching out to US citizens who have expressed interest in departing the region.

As the Trump administration rushes to help stranded Americans in the region, it’s doing so without the presence of US ambassadors in six Middle Eastern countries: Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Iraq and Egypt. As a result of delays in the administration's nominations and Senate confirmations, those embassies are instead relying on a charge d'affaires to handle leadership duties. 

“This is no knock on the deeply committed professionals at the helm of each of these missions, but they are bereft of the most seasoned kind of leadership at the most critical moment," Leaf said.