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Reuters

US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that US personnel were being moved out of the Middle East because “it could be a dangerous place”, adding that the United States would not allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon.
Reuters reported earlier on Wednesday that the US was preparing a partial evacuation of its Iraq embassy and would allow military dependents to leave locations around the Middle East due to heightened security risks in the region, according to US and Iraqi sources.
The four US and two Iraqi sources did not say what security risks had prompted the decision.
A US official said the State Department had authorised voluntary departures from Bahrain and Kuwait.

The State Department updated its worldwide travel advisory on Wednesday evening to reflect the latest US posture. “On June 11, the Department of State ordered the departure of non-emergency US government personnel due to heightened regional tensions,” the advisory said.
The decision by the US to evacuate some personnel comes at a volatile moment in the region. Trump’s efforts to reach a nuclear deal with Iran appear to be deadlocked and US intelligence indicates that Israel has been making preparations for a strike against Iran’s nuclear facilities.
“They are being moved out because it could be a dangerous place, and we’ll see what happens,” Trump told reporters. “We’ve given notice to move out.”
Asked whether anything can be done to lower the temperature in the region, Trump said: “They can’t have a nuclear weapon. Very simple, they can’t have a nuclear weapon”.
Trump has repeatedly threatened to strike Iran if stuttering talks over its nuclear programme failed, and in an interview released earlier on Wednesday said he was growing less confident that Tehran would agree to stop enriching uranium, a key American demand.
Iranian Defence Minister Aziz Nasirzadeh also said on Wednesday that if Iran was subjected to strikes, it would retaliate by hitting US bases in the region.
The US embassy in Kuwait said in a statement on Wednesday that it had “not changed its staffing posture and remains fully operational”.
The United States has a military presence across the major oil-producing region, with bases in Iraq, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates.




US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth has authorised the voluntary departure of military dependents from locations across the Middle East, a US official said. Another US official said that was mostly relevant to family members located in Bahrain, where the bulk of them were based.
Iraq’s state news agency cited a government source as saying Baghdad had not recorded any security indication that called for an evacuation.
Another US official said that there was no change in operations at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, the largest US military base in the Middle East, and that no evacuation order had been issued for employees or families linked to the US embassy in Qatar, which was operating as usual.
Earlier on Wednesday, Britain’s maritime agency warned that increased tensions in the Middle East may lead to an escalation in military activity that could impact shipping in critical waterways. It advised vessels to use caution while travelling through the Gulf, the Gulf of Oman and the Straits of Hormuz, which all border Iran.
Britain’s Foreign Office said it was monitoring the situation and would keep its embassy in Iraq under constant review following the US moves.
Iraq, a rare regional partner of both the United States and its arch regional foe Iran, hosts 2,500 US troops although Tehran-backed armed factions were linked to its security forces.

Tensions inside Iraq have heightened since the start of the war in Gaza in October 2023, with Iran-aligned armed groups in the country repeatedly attacking US troops, though attacks have subsided since last year.
Israel and Iran also twice exchanged fire last year – the first ever such direct attacks between the region’s most entrenched enemies – with missiles and war drones hurtling across Iraqi airspace.
Top US regional ally Israel has also struck Iran-linked targets across the region, including Iraqi armed groups operating both inside Iraq and in neighbouring Syria.
In recent months, the United States has deployed more military assets in the Middle East, including B-2 bombers, which have since been replaced, and extended the deployment of a second aircraft carrier, which has since departed.
The next round of nuclear talks between Iran and the United States is due in the coming days, with Iran expected to hand over a counter proposal after rejecting an offer by Washington.
A senior Iranian official told Reuters that a military threat had always been part of the United States’ negotiation tactics with Iran.
“Any military action against Iran, whether by the US or Israel, will have serious consequences,” the official warned.
Iran’s UN mission on Wednesday posted on X: “Threats of ‘overwhelming force’ won’t change facts: Iran is not seeking a nuclear weapon and US militarism only fuels instability”.
The statement appeared to be a response to an earlier comment by US Army General Michael “Erik” Kurilla, the head of US Central Command, that he had provided the president with “a wide range of options” to prevent a nuclear-armed Iran.


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The US embassy in Baghdad, Iraq. File photo: Reuters

This satellite photo shows Iran’s Bushehr nuclear plant. Photo: Planet Labs PBC via AP

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Iranian missiles are displayed at the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Aerospace Force Museum in Tehran, Iran. Photo: West Asia press Agency/Reuters

A technician is seen at an Iranian uranium conversion facility. Photo: Reuters

The Bushehr nuclear reactor in Iran. Photo: Planet Labs PBC/AP

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Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei speaks during a meeting in Tehran in May. Photo: West Asia News Agency via Reuters

US President Donald Trump speaks as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu waves following a meeting at the White House in April. Photo: Reuters

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Iranian Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Photo: Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader via EPA-EFE 

An anti-US mural in Tehran, Iran. File photo: EPA-EFE

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A uranium enrichment facility in Natanz, about 322km south of Tehran, in Iran. Photo: Reuters

An Iranian woman walks past a wall painting of Iran’s national flag in Tehran on May 21. Iran and the United States have been holding several rounds of talks in the past weeks over a possible nuclear deal. Photo: EPA-EFE

IAEA chief Rafael Grossi and the deputy chief of the Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran, Behrouz Kamalvandi, stand in front of Fordow facility near Qom, Qom province, in Iran in November 2024. Photo: IAEA via Reuters

A technician is seen at an Iranian uranium conversion facility in Isfahan. Photo: Reuters

A worker rides a bike in front of the reactor building of the Bushehr nuclear power plant, just outside the southern city of Bushehr, Iran. Photo: AP

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A replica of Iran’s Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant is seen at an exhibition in Isfahan in May 2024. Photo: TNS

An Iranian newspaper with a cover photo of US President Donald Trump and his Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff is seen in Tehran on May 11. Photo: WANA via Reuters

News

World

Tensions in the region have been rising as US-Iran nuclear talks appear to have hit an impasse


Tensions in the region have been rising as US-Iran nuclear talks appear to have hit an impasse.
