Iran is believed to be stepping up alleged plans to target US diplomats and government officials across the Middle East and beyond, prompting Washington to reduce personnel at several regional missions and reinforce its military posture.
US intelligence assessments dated October 23 indicate that the alleged Iranian operations have moved into “advanced stages.” The reported threats come as Houthi attacks continue and as the possibility of another US offensive involving Iran remains in focus.
Quick facts
- US diplomatic staffing has been reduced in Jordan, Lebanon, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
- The Pentagon has sent the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit and the USS Theodore Roosevelt carrier strike group to the Middle East.
- Those forces join the USS George Washington and USS George H.W. Bush in the region.
- Russian personnel at Iran’s Bushehr nuclear power plant are not being evacuated, Moscow said.
President Donald Trump declined over the weekend to discuss the intelligence findings in detail when asked about the reported Iranian plots. “They are bad people, very bad leadership. They killed 75,000 protesters,” he said.
The US military is preparing for the possibility of strikes against Iran. Sailors aboard the USS George Washington have been loading weapons and readying aircraft for potential operations.
Russia rejected claims that its diplomats and technical staff at the Bushehr nuclear facility were leaving Iran. The Russian Embassy in Tehran said on Saturday that reports of an evacuation were incorrect.
The embassy said personnel had no plans to depart and that work at the nuclear power station was continuing normally.
