'DEPART NOW!' US urges nationals in 14 countries including UAE to get out ASAP

Marco Rubio has urged Americans in 14 countries to 'DEPART NOW' (Image: Getty)

US nationals in 14 coutries, including the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Qatar, have been urged to leave now due to "serious safety risks" as tensions with Iran explode to alarming levels. The State Department has set up an emergency task force to strengthen security at US diplomatic sites and to support American citizens in the region.

While it has not arranged government‑run evacuation flights, officials say they are helping US nationals secure seats on available commercial routes for those seeking to leave the Middle East. Mora Namdar, Assistant Secretary for Consular Affairs, wrote on X: "The @SecRubio @StateDept urges Americans to DEPART NOW from the countries below using available commercial transportation, due to serious safety risks. Americans who need State Department assistance arranging to depart via commercial means, CALL US 24/7 at +1-202-501-4444 (from abroad) and +1-888-407-4747 (from the U.S. and Canada). ENROLL in http://step.state.gov to get the latest security updates from the nearest U.S. embassy or consulate."

The warning comes as the US-Israel and Iran continue with missiles attack for the third day. With the current situaion across several Middle-Eastern countries, airspace closures over the weekend have left hundreds of thousands of passengers stuck in the region, as major transit airports such as Dubai and Abu Dhabi were forced to shut down, bringing some of the world’s busiest aviation routes to a standstill.

While addressing the media on Monday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said: "Our mission is the destruction of their ballistic missile capabilities, and their ability to manufacture them, as well as the threat posed by their navy to global shipping. That's the objective.

"That said. We would not mind, we would not be heartbroken, and we hope that the Iranian people can overthrow this government and establish a new future for that country. We would love for that to be possible. But the objective of this mission is the destruction of their ballistic missile capabilities, and their naval capabilities."

He added that the US attacked Iran "pre-emptively" on Saturday because they knew Israel was going to strike, which he says would have meant Iranian retaliation against US forces. He continued: "We knew that there was going to be an Israeli action. We knew that that would precipitate an attack against American forces. And we knew that if we didn't pre-emptively go after them before they launched those attacks, we would suffer higher casualties and perhaps even higher those killed."

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Trump claims Iran 'would have had nuclear bomb three years ago’ (Image: Getty)

Meanwhile, Donald Trump asserted—without providing evidence—that if he had not withdrawn the United States from the 2015 nuclear agreement negotiated under former President Barack Obama, Iran would already possess a nuclear weapon.

He wrote on his Truth Social platform: "If I didn’t terminate Obama’s horrendous Iran Nuclear Deal (JCPOA), Iran would have had a Nuclear Weapon three years ago. That was the most dangerous transaction we have ever entered into, and had it been allowed to stand, the World would be an entirely different place right now. You can blame Barack Hussein Obama, and Sleepy Joe Biden. THANK YOU PRESIDENT TRUMP!"

Earlier today, he said the United States would continue striking Iran for as long as necessary to ensure the country could no longer pose a threat, signalling that the widening conflict in the Middle East may stretch on for weeks or even longer.

He said: "Whatever the time is, it’s OK, whatever it takes. Right from the beginning we projected four to five weeks, but we have the capability to go far longer than that."

Bahrain

Egypt

Iran

Iraq

Israel, the West Bank and Gaza

Jordan

Kuwait

Lebanon

Oman

Qatar

Saudi Arabia

Syria

United Arab Emirates

Yemen