US Embassy Closures Mark Largest Regional Pullback in Decades

As US and Israeli strikes on Iran widen into a broader regional conflict, Washington is executing its largest diplomatic drawdown in the Middle East since the Iraq War began more than two decades ago.

Multiple US embassies have closed to the public, staffing levels have been reduced, and nonessential personnel and families have been ordered to depart several countries.

Americans in 14 Middle Eastern nations have been urged to leave, even as commercial air travel has faced widespread disruption. According to the State Department, more than 9,000 Americans have returned from the region since the weekend, while thousands more have sought information or assistance.

The scale of the pullback is comparable to the run-up to and aftermath of the 2003 war of Iraq, when the US reduced diplomatic staffing across more than a dozen countries from North Africa to South Asia.

Today’s reductions are affecting routine consular services and limiting diplomatic engagement at a time of heightened regional tensions.

Tens of thousands of US citizens — many of them dual nationals — are believed to live across the Middle East, though exact figures are unavailable.