A US Department of State advisory has announced that US citizens should “consider leaving Israel while commercial flights are available.”
The US authorised the departure of non-essential government workers and their families from Israel as the threat of an American strike on Iran looms. It also urged against travel to Israel.
The warning came after talks between the US and Iran over the future of Tehran’s nuclear programme ended inconclusively, with a suggestion that further discussions would be held next week.
US President Donald Trump has said he favours a diplomatic resolution to the standoff, but has repeatedly threatened to bomb Iran if it does not accept a deal. The US has amassed its biggest military arsenal in the region since the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
Trump has assembled two carrier strike groups ready to attack Iran if he believes Tehran is not serious about ending its nuclear activities.
The Department of State warning was supplemented by a message to US embassy staff from the Ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, urging those that wanted to leave to “do so TODAY.”
He contacted embassy staff in an email sent at 12.04am local time, urging them to book flights anywhere they could. He noted that this move “will likely result in high demand for airline seats today.”
“Focus on getting a seat to any place from which you can then continue travel to DC, but the first priority will be getting expeditiously out of the country.”
Mike Huckabee
The call to leave Israel came as Oman’s Foreign Minister, Badr Albusaidi, the key mediator in the talks between the US and Iran, flew to Washington in what looked increasingly like a last-ditch effort to persuade the Trump administration to hold back.
He was due to brief JD Vance, the US Vice President, and make the case that enough progress has been made in the talks to warrant caution.
The urgency of his visit, hours after talks between Iran and the US ended in Geneva on Thursday evening, suggested he believed he needed to act quickly to counter those making the case for a military intervention.
Iran has held out against Washington’s demand to export its highly enriched uranium stockpile to the US and says it is not willing to end altogether its right to enrich uranium domestically.
The Iranian parliament passed a law last July that banned cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and required a recognition of Iran’s “right to enrich” before inspectors can return.
However, Iran has said it would commit to needs-based enrichment and for now would require only 20% or lower purity levels at its Tehran research reactor.
The separate issue of its 400kg stockpile of highly enriched uranium at 60% could be addressed by diluting or “downblending” it, as happened under the 2015 nuclear agreement.
Iran Tells US To Drop Excessive Demands
Meanwhile, the Iranian Foreign Minister, Abbas Araghchi said that United States must drop its “excessive demands” in nuclear talks with Iran to achieve a successful outcome as the US embassy in Jerusalem granted permission to nonemergency staff members to leave Israel amid fears of a regional war.
Iran’s top diplomat said that “success on this path requires seriousness and realism on the part of the other side and avoidance of any miscalculation and excessive demands.”
“It concluded with the mutual understanding that we will continue to engage in a more detailed manner on matters that are essential to any deal – including sanctions termination and nuclear-related steps.”
Abass Araghchi
The two sides are scheduled to meet next week at technical level in Vienna at the headquarters of the IAEA, the UN-affiliated body that would be required to verify Iranian compliance.
The Iranian diplomat added that further negotiations will be conducted in parallel to meetings between technical teams in Vienna in the coming days.
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