The United States ordered the evacuation of “non-essential” staff and family members from its embassy in Beirut on Monday, calling the move temporary, as regional tensions between Washington and Tehran rise and signs mount of a possible military confrontation.
In a statement posted on Facebook, the US embassy in Beirut said any travel by its staff is banned without prior approval and that additional restrictions on their movement could be imposed, citing “increased security issues or threats.”
A US State Department official told the BBC that the department decided to reduce staffing after a recent security review.
According to an unnamed source at the embassy cited by Reuters, 50 people were evacuated. A Beirut airport official said 32 embassy employees and their families left the country on Monday.
At the same time, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio postponed a visit that had been scheduled to Israel this week to next Monday.
An unnamed US official told AFP that Rubio had planned to visit Tel Aviv last Saturday to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, adding the trip is still on but its schedule remains subject to change.”
In the same context, Yedioth Ahronoth quoted an Israeli official as saying a US attack on Iran is “imminent.”
The newspaper, citing sources who said they spoke with US President Donald Trump in recent days, reported that he is inclined to issue an order to carry out a military strike against Iran.
Israel’s Channel 12 said Tel Aviv has finished preparations for the possibility of additional fronts opening, while Netanyahu said Israel is going through “complicated days” and that his government is “ready for any scenario.”
In a post on Truth Social, Trump renewed his warning that failure to reach an agreement with Iran over its nuclear program would make it “a very bad day” for Tehran.
The Financial Times reported that Israeli intelligence assessments suggest current US military capabilities would be sufficient for only four to five days of intensive strikes against Iran, extending to a week in the case of less intense strikes, even with the imminent arrival of the US aircraft carrier Gerald R. Ford to the Middle East.
The British newspaper added that any conflict could result in US military casualties, which could undermine Trump’s popular support.
On Monday, Axios reported that Joint Chiefs Chairman Dan Caine has been advising President Trump and top officials that a military campaign against Iran could carry significant risks.
Trump denied that on Monday on Truth Social, insisting the United States could defeat Tehran easily.
Trump said, “General Caine, like all of us, would like not to see War but, if a decision is made on going against Iran at a Military level, it is his opinion that it will be something easily won. He knows Iran well in that he was in charge of Midnight Hammer, the attack on the Iranian Nuclear Development.”
Military assessments indicate that striking Iran’s missile program or seeking to topple the leadership in Tehran would require hitting hundreds, and possibly thousands, of sites inside Iran, including mobile missile launch facilities, air defenses, and command-and-control centers, meaning heavy ammunition consumption and the likelihood of prolonged involvement.
These developments come as attention turns to Geneva, Switzerland, on Thursday, when a third round of US-Iran nuclear talks is scheduled, as Western capitals treat the talks as the last chance to avoid a direct military confrontation.
If the negotiations, which began in early February, fail, this would be the second wave of US-Iran escalation in a matter of months, after Israel and Iran fought a 12-day war in June, in which the United States joined by carrying out air strikes on Iran that it said were meant to deter Tehran from developing its nuclear program. Iran responded by firing missiles at the US Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar before Trump announced the war had ended by agreement.
