Iran plots, Houthi attacks spur US departure orders in Mideast

Iain Marlow, Bloomberg News on Oct 24, 2026

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The U.S. has ordered the departure of diplomatic personnel and adjusted staffing at embassies across the Middle East as a result of Iranian efforts to target Americans, as well as threats from Houthi militants in Yemen, according to an American official.

The State Department had previously said the U.S. was ordering some diplomatic staff to depart only from Saudi Arabia as a result of the growing risk from the Houthis, but had called reports of broader U.S. evacuations across the Middle East “inaccurate.”

The U.S. official, who requested anonymity, citing rules, said Friday night that the Houthi and Iranian threats were informing staffing adjustments at embassies in the region already under “restricted operations.”

In an unclassified memo dated Oct. 23, which was posted on social media by an Axios reporter and confirmed accurate by the U.S. official, Director of National Intelligence Jay Clayton warned Secretary of State Marco Rubio about the increased risk to American officials in the region — and “certain other areas” — from Iranian attacks.

“Iran has substantially increased efforts to target U.S. personnel,” Clayton wrote in the memo. “The lethal plotting efforts by the Iranians against U.S. citizens have reached advanced stages in both the Middle East and certain other countries.”

The orders come nearly eight months into the U.S. and Israeli war against Iran, and after President Donald Trump has made repeated threats to order a new round of strikes, perhaps after the U.S. midterms elections on Nov. 3.

Tehran has increased attacks on commercial ships in or near the Strait of Hormuz in recent weeks, and has regularly retaliated against U.S. and Israeli airstrikes by attacking energy infrastructure and U.S. facilities across the Persian Gulf.

The order to move U.S. staff out of Saudi Arabia earlier this week helped push up oil prices amid fears of renewed fighting in the Middle East.

While Iran-backed Houthi militants have recently increased deadly strikes against Saudi energy sites and airports, there have not been any significant recent clashes between U.S. or Iranian forces.

(Courtney McBride contributed to this report.)