The State Department has authorized nonemergency staff and family members at the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem to leave Israel, warning that they should consider acting “while commercial flights are available.”
An updated travel advisory issued Friday and posted on the embassy website warned that further advisories may be issued “in response to security incidents and without advance notice.”
The departure warning came amid ongoing threats of a U.S. attack on Iran and the high probability of Iranian retaliation against Israel and U.S. forces in the region. But the notice made no direct mention of Iran, instead speaking of rising “terrorism and civil unrest” in Israel and the West Bank.
It also referenced “terrorism and armed conflict” in Gaza and along its border with Israel, and on the tense frontiers with Syria and Lebanon.
In a separate email to embassy staff Friday, Ambassador Mike Huckabee said those wishing to leave should do so “TODAY,” booking any flight available to any other country, according to a U.S. official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal communications.
“Focus on getting a seat to anyplace from which you can then continue travel to DC, but the first priority will be getting expeditiously out of country,” Huckabee wrote.
He added that the government would cover their evacuation costs under a policy that applies when “U.S. national interests or imminent threat to life requires it,” said the official. Huckabee’s email to the staff was first reported by the New York Times.
During his first administration, President Donald Trump authorized moving the embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, parts of which are claimed by both Israel and the Palestinians as their capital. Although initially occupying a small Jerusalem footprint, plans were authorized in 2021 to significantly expand the facility.
The encouragement of embassy staff’s departure came as the State Department also announced that Secretary of State Marco Rubio will travel to Israel next Monday and Tuesday to “discuss a range of regional priorities including Iran, Lebanon, and ongoing efforts to implement President Trump’s 20-Point Peace Plan for Gaza.”
The Trump administration has continued to bolster air and sea military assets in the region in the largest regional deployment since the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Israeli media reported the arrival Friday of nearly a dozen U.S. air refueling tankers at Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv, following the positioning of F-22 fighter jets at a base in southern Israel.
A third round of indirect talks between the U.S. and Iran — with the Trump administration demanding the destruction of all remnants of Iran’s nuclear program and Tehran in return seeking an end to U.S. sanctions — took place Thursday in Geneva with no resolution. Iranian negotiators and Omani mediators said the talks made progress and would resume next week.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said “good progress” was made during two lengthy sessions in Geneva and that the two sides achieved a “close understanding” despite remaining differences in some areas.
The Trump administration has not commented on the Geneva meetings. During his State of the Union address Tuesday, Trump spoke briefly about the Iranian nuclear threat, repeating the claim that airstrikes last June had “obliterated Iran’s nuclear weapons program” but warning that Tehran was starting to rebuild it and “are at this moment pursuing their sinister ambitions.”
On Friday, Iranian military spokesman Brig. Gen. Abolfazl Shekarchi called Trump’s threats against Iran “baseless, boastful and delusional,” according to Iranian media reports. He described the U.S. military presence in the region as “psychological warfare, blackmail and bullying.”
In an interview Thursday with The Washington Post, Vice President JD Vance said that he did not know whether Trump would decide to attack Iran, but said the U.S. would not become involved in a drawn-out war.
While regional experts and some lawmakers have warned that a U.S. attack could spark widespread regional conflict, Vance said “the idea that we’re going to be in a Middle Eastern war for years with no end in sight — there is no chance that will happen.”
Trump and administration officials have charged that Tehran is intent on building a nuclear weapon and is developing an intercontinental ballistic missile capability to reach U.S. territory. The Iranian government has said for years it has no intention of producing a nuclear bomb, and international inspectors have said they detect no active plan to do so. U.S. intelligence assessed last year that it would take until 2035 for Iran to build an ICBM “should Tehran decide to pursue the capability.”
The possibility of war between the U.S. and Iran has overshadowed other conflicts over the past several weeks in Gaza, the West Bank and on Israel’s other borders. While steps have been put in place to move forward with Trump’s ambitious Gaza peace plan, few have been implemented beyond the release of hostages and a ceasefire that has been repeatedly violated by both sides, with more than 600 Palestinian deaths from Israeli attacks since the truce was declared in October, according to Gaza health authorities.
Amid an increase in settler attacks on the West Bank and military restrictions on Palestinian civilians there, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government has taken steps to annex more of the occupied territory.
“The security environment is complex and can change quickly,” the U.S. Embassy update said, “and violence can occur in Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza without warning. Increased regional tensions can cause airlines to cancel and/or curtail flights into and out of Israel.”
Adam Taylor in Washington and Lior Soroka in Tel Aviv contributed to this report.
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