Possibility of Israeli strike on Iran puts Americans in Mideast on alert as Iran vows to boost nuclear program

CBS News

2 days ago

The State Department ordered U.S. government workers in Israel to restrict their travel around the country Thursday as family members of U.S. military personnel across the Middle East were authorized to evacuate amid concern that Israel could attack Iran. Multiple sources told CBS News on Wednesday that U.S. officials had been told Israel is fully ready to launch an operation into Iran.
In a statement shared on social media Thursday, the State Department said U.S. government employees and their family members were "restricted from travel outside the greater Tel Aviv (including Herzliya, Netanya, and Even Yehuda), Jerusalem, and Be'er Sheva areas until further notice."
American government personnel were told they could move between those areas, including to Israel's Ben Gurion airport. But the U.S. Embassy in Israel warned all American nationals in the country "of the continued need for caution and increased personal security awareness — including knowing the location of the nearest shelter in the event of a red alert as security incidents, including mortar, rocket, and missile fire, and unmanned aircraft system (UAS) intrusions, often take place without any warning. The security environment is complex and can change quickly."
Israeli security forces stand in front of the U.S. Embassy Branch Office in Tel Aviv, in a March 8, 2024, file photo.
JACK GUEZ/AFP/Getty
When asked about the precautionary measures for U.S. nationals in the Mideast, President Trump said only that the region "could be a dangerous place, and we'll see what happens."
He reiterated that U.S. was "not going to allow" Iran to develop a nuclear weapon — something leaders in Tehran have insisted repeatedly they have no intention of doing.
But despite the threat of a possible attack by long-time archrival Israel, Iran on Thursday bristled at a vote by the board of governors of the IAEA, the United Nations' nuclear watchdog agency, that found Tehran was not complying with its nuclear obligations for the first time in 20 years.
Iran says it will expand its nuclear program
In response to the IAEA vote, Tehran announced plans to significantly boost its already-growing uranium enrichment program, saying it would establish a new enrichment facility "in a secure location" and that "other measures are also being planned."
"The Islamic Republic of Iran has no choice but to respond to this political resolution," the Iranian Foreign Ministry and the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran said in a joint statement.
President Trump previously warned that Israel or America could carry out airstrikes targeting Iranian nuclear facilities if ongoing negotiations between his administration and Tehran failed. The escalation over Iran's contentious nuclear program comes ahead of a new round of Iran-U.S. talks set for Sunday in Oman.
Nineteen countries on the International Atomic Energy Agency's board, which represents the agency's member nations, voted for the resolution, according to diplomats who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe the outcome of the closed-doors vote. Russia, China and Burkina Faso opposed it, 11 abstained and two did not vote.
Speaking to Iranian state television after the vote, the spokesman for the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran said that his agency immediately informed the IAEA of "specific and effective" actions Tehran would take.
"One is the launch of a third secure site" for enrichment, spokesman Behrouz Kamalvandi said. He did not elaborate on the location. Iran has two known underground nuclear sites, at Fordo and Natanz, both south of Tehran in central Iran, and has been building tunnels in the mountains near Natanz since suspected Israeli sabotage attacks targeted that facility.
The other step would be replacing old centrifuges with advanced ones at Fordo. "The implication of this is that our production of enriched materials will significantly increase," Kamalvandi said.
A file image made from video broadcast on Iranian State Television shows trucks outside the Fordo nuclear facility in Iran, on Aug. 29, 2016.
Iran State Tevevision via AP
Two experts told CBS News more than a decade ago that Iran's facility at Fordo, which is buried almost 300 feet beneath a mountain and is protected by significant air defenses, was the most likely location for a hypothetical nuclear weapons "breakout" program in Iran.
Fordo is "obviously for nuclear weapons hedging, to preserve centrifuges in case of an attack" on other, more vulnerable facilities, Mark Fitzpatrick, an expert on Iran's nuclear program at the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies, told CBS News in 2012.
According to the draft IAEA resolution, "Iran's many failures to uphold its obligations since 2019 to provide the Agency with full and timely cooperation regarding undeclared nuclear material and activities at multiple undeclared locations in Iran ... constitutes non-compliance with its obligations under its Safeguards Agreement."
Under those obligations, which are part of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, Iran is legally bound to declare all nuclear material and activities and allow IAEA inspectors to verify that none of it is being diverted from peaceful uses.