U.S. allows departure of Israel embassy staff over safety risks

U.S. allows departure of Israel embassy staff over safety risks | Daily Tribune

JERUSALEM (AFP) — The United States embassy in Jerusalem announced on Friday it was allowing non-emergency government personnel and family members to leave Israel “due to safety risks,” adding that people who wished to leave should do so while flights were still available.

The announcement follows repeated threats from President Donald Trump to strike Iran, and with the US conducting its biggest military build-up in the region in decades.

The USS Gerald R. Ford, the world’s largest aircraft carrier, was expected to arrive off the coast of northern Israel on Friday as part of the build-up.

“On February 27, 2026, the Department of State authorized the departure of non-emergency US government personnel and family members of US government personnel from Mission Israel due to safety risks,” the embassy said on its website.

“Persons may wish to consider leaving Israel while commercial flights are available,” it added.

Trump, who ordered strikes on Iran last year, has repeatedly threatened Tehran with fresh military action if it does not cut a deal with the US.

Iran said Friday that in order to reach a deal, the US will have to drop its “excessive demands,” tempering the optimism expressed after ongoing Oman-mediated talks seen as a last-ditch bid to avert war.

Trump on 19 February gave Iran 15 days to reach a deal, and while Iran has insisted the discussions focus solely on its nuclear program, the US wants Tehran’s missile program and its support for militant groups curtailed.

The New York Times on Friday reported that US Ambassador Mike Huckabee sent an email to embassy staff on Friday morning saying that those wishing to leave “should do it TODAY.”

“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,” he was quoted as writing by the New York Times.

Washington currently has more than a dozen warships in the Middle East: one aircraft carrier — the USS Abraham Lincoln — nine destroyers and three other combat ships.

It is rare for there to be two US aircraft carriers, which carry dozens of warplanes and are crewed by thousands of sailors, in the region.

The developments follow massive protests in Iran that rights groups say saw thousands of demonstrators killed.