The nation’s top spy has sent Secretary of State Marco Rubio an urgent warning that danger to Americans overseas is rapidly escalating.
Director of National Intelligence Jay Clayton told Rubio that Iran has “substantially increased” its efforts to go after U.S. personnel, such as diplomats, and that lethal plotting against American citizens has reached “advanced stages” in the Middle East and other countries, according to an Oct. 23 memo Axios obtained and reported on Friday.
“The lethal plotting efforts by the Iranians against U.S. citizens have reached advanced stages in both the Middle East and certain other countries,” Clayton wrote in the one-page, unclassified memo, which was also copied to CIA Director John Ratcliffe.
CNN’s Zachary Cohen posted on X that a U.S. official confirmed the memo is genuine and that CNN had obtained its own copy, adding that a source said its substance is broadly in line with the intelligence community’s assessment.
The memo doesn’t name specific targets or identify which countries outside the region are involved, and it offers no details about how the plots would be carried out.
Instead, Clayton stressed that the safety of government personnel abroad is “a top priority” for the administration, warning that the intelligence is “relevant to more individuals than are currently cleared to receive this information.”
The materials have already gone to appropriately cleared senior staff on Rubio’s team, according to the memo, and Clayton pledged to downgrade as much of the intelligence as possible so Rubio can share it with State Department personnel at his discretion.
U.S. officials told Axios the warning is one of the factors behind a wave of embassy drawdowns across the region. Earlier this week, the State Department directed family members and nonessential staff to depart the embassy in Riyadh along with consulates in Jeddah and Dhahran. On Friday, it ordered further personnel cuts at embassies in the United Arab Emirates, Lebanon, Qatar and Jordan, a U.S. official said.
“We decided that due to the threat of Houthi attacks and Iranian terror plots we need to reduce our footprint and keep only essential staff,” the official told Axios.
Officials also worry that Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels could widen their attacks beyond Saudi Arabia, while the possibility of new U.S. and Israeli military action against Iran, potentially after the midterms, has further heightened tensions.
President Donald Trump floated that very scenario at a rally in Florida on Friday. “We may do another little Operation Epic Fury, or [the Iranians] will agree [to a deal],” he said, adding, “If they’re smart, they will just say, ‘Let’s get down to business,’ but I doubt they will do that because perhaps they’re not smart.”
CNN was the first to report the staffing reduction at the four embassies.
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