US preparing to evacuate embassy in Iraq

12/6/2025 6:17

The United

States is preparing to evacuate its Iraqi embassy due to

heightened security risks in the region, three U.S. and two

Iraqi sources said on Wednesday while a U.S. official said

military dependents could also leave Bahrain.



The sources did not specify which security risks had

prompted the decision to evacuate and the State Department did

not immediately respond to a request for comment.



U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened to

strike Iran if stuttering talks over its nuclear programme fail

and on Wednesday he said he was growing less confident that

Tehran would agree to stop enriching uranium, a key American

demand.



Iranian Defence Minister Aziz Nasirzadeh said Iran would

hit U.S. bases if the nuclear talks failed, leading to war.



"The State Department is set to have an ordered departure

for (the) U.S. embassy in Baghdad. The intent is to do it

through commercial means, but the U.S. military is standing by

if help is requested," a U.S. official said.



An Iraqi foreign ministry official said a "partial

evacuation" of U.S. embassy staff had been confirmed due to what

the official termed "potential security concerns related to

possible regional tensions".



U.S. military dependents in Bahrain can temporarily

depart due to the heightened regional tensions, a U.S. official

told Reuters.



Another U.S. official said that there was no change in

operations at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, the largest U.S.

military base in the Middle East and that no evacuation order

had been issued for employees or families linked to the U.S.

embassy in Qatar, which was operating as usual.