US Urges American Citizens to Immediately Leave Dozen-Plus Middle Eastern Countries

The US State Department has urged all American citizens to immediately leave more than a dozen Middle Eastern countries, including Saudi Arabia and Qatar. The directive was issued amidst heightened US-Israel military operations against Iran.

The warning, released on Monday (3 March 2026), followed several recent updates to travel advisories for countries in the region and recommendations against travel.

The latest warning applies to Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel, the West Bank and occupied Gaza, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen.

In a statement posted on X, Mora Namdar, assistant secretary of the State Department for consular affairs, stated that US citizens must “IMMEDIATELY DEPART” from the listed countries using available commercial transportation due to serious safety risks.

The US Embassy in Amman, Jordan, announced on Monday morning that its staff had left the diplomatic facility due to threats.

Patty Culhane of Al Jazeera, reporting from Washington DC, noted the unusual manner of the announcement via social media by a State Department official.

“The fact that the State Department is referring us to a tweet from a deputy foreign minister, and this is not necessarily official policy – though they may be saying it is official policy – this is not how things are normally done,” Culhane said.

“This is really strange. I have never seen anything like this during my time covering news in Washington,” she added.

“This is not how it works. The State Department has a very complex process for informing American citizens in those places that they need to leave. That has not happened. It is not official government policy, at least apparently not yet, because this is not how they announce official government policy,” Culhane continued.