Clayton Orders Staff Cuts Amid Iran Threats
Twenty-one US service members have died since February as intelligence confirms advanced Iranian plots against Americans in the region.
By Jonathan Hoffmann ·
United States intelligence officials have assessed that Iran is in the advanced stages of plotting lethal attacks against American personnel abroad. This warning prompted the Department of State to begin removing non-essential staff from multiple Middle East embassies.
Director of National Intelligence Jay Clayton sent a memo to Secretary of State Marco Rubio detailing the threat level. Clayton stated that US agencies found Iran had substantially increased efforts to target US personnel. The memo indicates that lethal plots are now in advanced stages in the Middle East and other countries. The New York Times reported that threats to ambassadors and other officials have been assessed in recent weeks.
US officials told the Times that threats to US citizens in the region are at their highest level since the war began on February 28. The Pentagon has confirmed that 21 US military personnel have been killed in the Middle East since that date. The State Department announced on Wednesday that it is removing non-essential staff from its embassy in Saudi Arabia. CNN reported that quiet staff reductions are also occurring at embassies in the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Jordan, and Lebanon.
A US official told the Times that Houthi attacks and Iranian terror plots are driving these decisions. The official noted that the Houthis are escalating attacks on Saudi infrastructure. Washington has not commented publicly on the memo, though a US official told the Times it is authentic. Another official suggested that Iran may lack the capacity to follow through on all its ambitions.
President Donald Trump said on Friday that the US may do another little epic fury. This is the codename for the ongoing war. Reports suggest the US and Israel may be preparing a new military campaign after next month's mid-term elections. Iranian officials have responded to the potential resumption of hostilities with specific warnings.
Revolutionary Guard spokesman Hossein Mohebbi said Tehran would adopt a new offensive strategy if the US renewed attacks. He stated that Iran would no longer limit itself to retaliation and added that the quality and range of Iranian missiles had improved. Security chief Mohsen Rezaei warned that undersea communications cables, data centers, and artificial intelligence facilities in the region could be hit if war resumes.
US authorities have a history of confronting Iranian plots against Americans. In March, a US court convicted a Pakistani national of plotting to assassinate Trump on the orders of the Revolutionary Guard. In 2022, a Guard member was charged with trying to arrange the killing of former national security adviser John Bolton. This month, US authorities pulled bombers from an airbase in England after UK authorities arrested several men on suspicion of working with Iranian intelligence.
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