Us Embassy In Israel Authorizes Staff To Leave The Country Ahead Of Potential Iran Strike

The State Department is allowing non-essential employees at the U.S. Embassy in Israel to leave the country due to “safety risks,” as President Donald Trump weighs a military strike on Iran in a bid to stymie its nuclear program.

“Persons may wish to consider leaving Israel while commercial flights are available,” the embassy said in a travel advisory update Friday. Earlier this week, the U.S. Embassy in Beirut pulled out non-essential staff.

The embassy also encouraged government employees and family members to refrain from traveling to certain parts of the country “in response to security incidents and without advance notice,” including the Old City of Jerusalem and the West Bank.

The guidance comes as the White House considers whether to again attack Iran, less than a year after Trump boasted the country’s nuclear program had been “obliterated” after the president authorized air strikes on three sites last June.

Administration officials are weighing the military options available, with Israel seen as a key partner. But some Pentagon officials worry that prolonged strikes could deplete American military stockpiles, opening up the possibility of a Chinese attack on Taiwan.

And Democrats are worried that Trump will use military power without congressional approval. They plan on forcing votes to curtail his ability to launch a unilateral attack on Iran in the House and Senate next week.

"The American people are still waiting for the strategic justification for a war with Iran that puts thousands of American personnel across the region in harm’s way," Chris Coons, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, wrote on X Friday. "What is the evidence of an imminent threat?"

The State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment from POLITICO.

But Trump has insisted his primary focus is on figuring out a diplomatic solution with the Middle East country.

“My preference is to solve this problem through diplomacy, but one thing is certain: I will never allow the world’s No. 1 sponsor of terror — which they are by far— to have a nuclear weapon,” he said at the State of the Union address on Tuesday.