The developments increase fears of military escalation in the region. US President Donald Trump has been threatening Iran’s leadership with military action for weeks. He has given Tehran a deadline of early March to agree on a new nuclear deal with Washington. There are fears in Israel that Tehran could target its Washington ally Israel in the event of a US attack.
All “non-emergency staff” employees of the US mission in Jerusalem and their families are now free to leave Israel with immediate effect due to “security risks,” the embassy said on its website. According to a report in the New York Times, Ambassador Mike Huckabee addressed his employees in an internal email with drastic words. Anyone who wants to leave Israel should do so “TODAY,” Huckabee wrote, adding: “Make every effort to get a seat on a plane somewhere from where you can then travel to Washington, but the most important thing is to leave the country quickly.”
The Foreign Office said in the evening: “Traveling to Israel and East Jerusalem is strongly advised against.” The ministry also said that the embassy in Tel Aviv remains “fully operational”. “We are monitoring the situation very closely and are in close communication with our embassy in Tel Aviv, including on the security situation of our colleagues on site and their family members.” The situation in Iran is also being monitored “very closely”.
The British government said diplomatic staff had been “temporarily” withdrawn from Iran due to security concerns. Some employees of the British Embassy in Tel Aviv and their relatives were also relocated “to another location in Israel” “due to regional tensions”. The situation “can escalate quickly and poses significant risks,” warned the Foreign Office in London. China called on its citizens in Iran to “leave the country as soon as possible.” Chinese people in Israel should strengthen their emergency preparations and avoid leaving their accommodation if possible. The Turkish airline Turkish Airlines and two Iranian airlines canceled their flights to Iran on Friday evening.
In order to increase pressure on Iran, the USA had significantly increased its military presence in the region in recent weeks and relocated two aircraft carriers and more than a dozen other warships to the region. The world’s largest aircraft carrier “USS Gerald R. Ford” was scheduled to arrive off the coast of Israel on Friday. The aircraft carrier “USS Abraham Lincoln” had already been sent to the Gulf.
Representatives of the US government and Iran have been holding indirect talks about Iran’s nuclear program for weeks. According to a report in the Wall Street Journal, the USA wants Iran to dismantle its three most important nuclear facilities and hand over the already enriched uranium to the USA. Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi called on the US on Friday to refrain from making “excessive demands.” The talks are scheduled to continue on a technical level in Vienna on Monday.
The US State Department announced that Secretary of State Marco Rubio would visit Israel on Monday to discuss the conflict with Iran. In contrast to what has been customary for decades, the minister is not taking any reporters with him on his plane during the trip.
In his State of the Union address on Tuesday, Trump accused Iran of working on missiles that could reach the United States. In addition, the Iranian government is pursuing “sinister nuclear ambitions.” Tehran dismissed the allegations as “lies.” Officially, the Iranian missiles have a range of 2,000 kilometers, which means Iran can attack its arch-enemy Israel. The Scientific Service of the US Congress, however, estimates the range to be around 3,000 kilometers.
Tehran insists that its nuclear program is exclusively for civilian purposes. Last June, Israel and Iran fought a twelve-day war against each other. The USA intervened on Israel’s side and bombed Iranian nuclear facilities.
