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U.S. embassies across eleven Middle Eastern countries issued urgent security alerts Saturday, warning American citizens of the risk of "unforeseen escalation" in the ongoing U.S.-Iran war and urging them to consider leaving the region as fighting shows no sign of abating.
The warnings, posted online simultaneously by missions in Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, came a day after President Donald Trump threatened to strike Iran "very hard." The alerts advised citizens to check flight schedules and prepare for potential airspace closures and travel disruptions.
"Americans in the region should consider departing, or be prepared to depart should there be escalation," the security alert stated.
The U.S. and Iran have been at war since February 28, when the United States and Israel launched strikes on Iran, which has since retaliated with waves of missile and drone attacks across the region.
A ceasefire brought a brief period of calm, but fighting resumed with exchanges of fire last month. There were no reported strikes overnight Friday to Saturday.
Iran's military on Saturday accused Washington of "escalating tensions."
Ali Abdollahi, head of Iran's military central command, warned in a statement broadcast on state television that "any country serving as defensive shield for criminal and aggressive America will be engulfed by the flames of war."
Mohammad Mokhber, an adviser to Iran's supreme leader, also cautioned against attacks on Iranian infrastructure, writing on X that "attacking Iran's infrastructure directly awakens the fault lines on which 250 years of your hegemonic architecture have been built."
The U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem, meanwhile, described the Iranian regime as "unpredictable," pointing to recent attacks on areas previously untargeted, including Egypt.
Americans in Jordan were advised to avoid military bases in the country, which have come under Iranian missile fire, while those in Israel were directed to locate the nearest bomb shelter.
The U.S. mission in Beirut remained on "ordered departure status," with non-essential government staff and family members already relocated outside Lebanon.
The conflict has thrown major maritime chokepoints into turmoil. Iran has effectively maintained control over navigation through the Strait of Hormuz since the war began, requiring vessels to obtain permission and pay transit fees, according to reports.
Maritime trade tracking firm Kpler said Friday that traffic through the strait has dropped "sharply," adding that operators are closely monitoring routing behavior and diplomatic developments that could reshape risk across regional shipping lanes.
On Saturday, a British maritime agency reported that an "unknown projectile" struck a tanker off the coast of Oman.
Earlier in the week, a drone struck a U.S.-owned gas vessel moored in an Egyptian port, causing a fire. Egyptian authorities are investigating but have not attributed responsibility.
On the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, which connects the Red Sea to the Indian Ocean and serves as a growing transit route for Saudi Arabian oil, Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen denied on Saturday that they were charging ships for passage.
The war's reach extends beyond the core U.S.-Iran confrontation. On the Lebanon front, Israel's military said Saturday it killed three Hezbollah fighters in southern Lebanon during operations in which one Israeli soldier was moderately wounded in what the military described as a "close-quarters encounter" with Hezbollah militants.
The conflict has for months upended daily life across the broader Middle East and rattled global energy markets, with no diplomatic resolution in sight.
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