The US State Department ordered American employees and diplomats in Saudi Arabia to leave the country, citing safety risks.
The State Department issued the order on Sunday for non-emergency US government employees and their family members to leave Saudi Arabia, according to a social media post on Monday, March 9.
This move marks the agency’s first approved “ordered departure” since US and Israeli strikes were launched on Iran on February 28.
Non-essential American government staff and their families stationed at diplomatic posts in the region had earlier been allowed to leave voluntarily, but they have now been ordered to depart, according to a report by Bloomberg.
The State Department has decided it is prudent to reduce its presence in the country to essential personnel, a spokesperson said. The embassy will continue to operate with core staff in place, and the spokesperson added that the move is a temporary measure.
The mandatory evacuation from the US Embassy in Riyadh comes after multiple Iranian strikes targeting the diplomatic compound and nearby areas. On Tuesday, the embassy was hit by a drone attack involving two unmanned aircraft, according to a statement from Saudi Arabia’s Defence Ministry.
Arab states across the Persian Gulf continued to face incoming missiles and drones launched by Iran on Monday, as Tehran said it has the capacity to sustain the conflict for months. Meanwhile, Israel carried out strikes on fuel depots in Tehran and warned it could target Iran’s power grid, prompting the Iranian Red Crescent to warn residents about the risk of toxic acid rain, according to a Bloomberg report.
The embassy warned people to avoid the location, saying there had been “an attack on the facility.” It also issued a security alert and a shelter-in-place notification for Americans in Riyadh, as well as in Jeddah and Dhahran, two cities where there are US consulates. American government employees in those consulates are also being told to prepare for ordered departure, an official said.
Iran has also hit military sites in the kingdom. The Pentagon said on Sunday that an American service member had died from injuries suffered on March 1 in an attack on a Saudi military base. Six Army reservists were killed earlier in an Iranian drone strike on a port in Kuwait, according to a report by The New York Times.
US-Iran oil prices
Crude oil prices surpass USD 100 a barrel as the Iran war impedes production and shipping. Oil prices eclipsed USD 114 per barrel for the first time since 2022 on Monday, March 9, as the Iran war intensified, threatening production and shipping in the Middle East.
The price for a barrel of Brent crude, the international standard, surged past USD 114 after trading resumed on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. That was up 23 per cent from its Friday closing price of USD 92.69.
