US diplomats ordered to leave Iraq embassy over unspecified security threats

Politico

a day ago

U.S. missions in Baghdad and Erbil are evacuating most diplomats in response to unspecified security threats, according to one former and two current U.S. officials.
The reason for the move, known as an ordered departure, was not immediately clear but comes after Iran's defense minister threatened to strike American bases in the region if negotiations over Iran's nuclear program fail. The order applies to all nonessential personnel in Iraq.
'President Trump is committed to keeping Americans safe, both at home and abroad. In keeping with that commitment, 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 State Department said in an emailed statement.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has also authorized the voluntary departure of U.S. military dependents across the Middle East, according to a defense official. The individual, and the two other U.S. officials, were granted anonymity because they were not authorized to speak about developing policy. The former official was granted anonymity to speak freely about sensitive information.
President Donald Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff is expected to meet Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi this weekend for a sixth round of nuclear talks. Trump has repeatedly said he prefers diplomacy to military action, but said in an interview released Wednesday that he is less confident in a nuclear deal.
'I don't know,' Trump told the 'Pod Force One' podcast when asked about whether Iran would agree to a deal to cease its nuclear program. 'I don't know. I did think so, and I'm getting more and more — less confident about it.'
Israel has also pressed Trump to greenlight a strike on Iran's nuclear facilities, which he has so far held off in a bid to let the negotiations bear fruit. Trump has said he wants a deal that will not allow Iran the ability to enrich uranium domestically, while Iran has said it will not agree to anything that would prevent it.
Reuters previously reported on the evacuation order for diplomats in Iraq.
The defense official said military service members will remain at bases but 'authorized eligible family members' will be able to leave at government expense. The official said it was a precautionary measure because of 'heightened threats in the region.'
There are about 2,500 U.S. troops remaining in Iraq, many of them at the sprawling Al-Assad air base, which has in the past come under rocket attacks from Iranian-backed militias operating in Iraq. In a ballistic missile attack on the base last August, five U.S. service members and two civilian contractors were injured. Iran has targeted the base for years, injuring dozens of American troops in the process.
Earlier this month, Witkoff sent Iran a proposal calling for a regional enrichment consortium aimed as a compromise between the U.S. and Iran's demands over Tehran's enrichment. Tehran has not formally responded to it.
Trump is being fiercely lobbied by both hawks and isolationists in his party about how to deal with Iran. The hawks want to see the U.S. confront Iran's program more aggressively by backing or participating in a strike on Tehran's nuclear facilities while the restrainer camp thinks doing so risks the kind of war in the Middle East that the president campaigned against.