NBC: U.S. troops and diplomats evacuating Middle East posts

The U.S. military has quietly been scaling back its troop presence at bases across the Middle East in recent days, and the State Department is ordering a further reduction in staff at multiple diplomatic posts in the region, according to two U.S. officials and two people familiar with the matter, NBC news reports.

The drawdowns come as senior U.S. military officials have been presenting Trump with options for strikes in Iran. U.S. troops stationed at bases in Jordan have been among those moved, according to one of the U.S. officials and the two people familiar with the matter. The U.S. official said American forces on bases in Qatar and Kuwait also have been included.

On Wednesday, the chiefs of mission at multiple U.S. diplomatic posts in the Middle East were notified that their posts would begin operating with reduced staff, the two U.S. officials said. The State Department also announced Wednesday that the U.S. embassy in Saudi Arabia is now under “ordered departure,” meaning the post will operate only with emergency staff.

A spokesperson for the Pentagon referred to the CENTCOM spokesperson’s statement when asked for comment.

The White House did not respond to a request for comment on the Pentagon moving U.S. troops. A spokesperson pointed to the State Department’s statement about the reduction of staff at the U.S. embassy in Saudi Arabia when asked about changes to diplomatic posts.

Moving American forces further out of harm’s way is part of U.S. military officials’ planning as President Donald Trump considers restarting major combat operations in Iran, potentially before or after next month’s midterm elections, one of the U.S. officials and one of the people familiar with the matter said.

The number of U.S. troops at bases in the region for months has been lower than before the start of the war in February, when the Pentagon removed most of them to protect them from Iran’s retaliatory attacks. Some of those displaced troops had since returned to bases in the region, and they could be moved out again as part of this latest withdrawal, the U.S. official and one of the people familiar with the matter said. They said the U.S. plans to leave a small footprint at its bases, including for air defenses and security, as was the case after the movement of troops before the start of the war.

U.S. diplomatic posts in the region have similarly already been operating with limited staff since the war began. As the war dragged on, and U.S. diplomatic posts continued to operate with limited staffing, the State Department created a new “restricted operations” status for diplomatic posts that’s slightly less restrictive on staffing and has slowly become the new normal for many posts in the region.

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