U.S. Evacuating Staff from Iraq; Voluntary Departure of Staff Families Across Mideast

The U.S. is evacuating some diplomatic staff from its embassy in Iraq Wednesday, and allowing families and dependents of diplomats in Bahrain and other locations to return to the U.S., as negotiations with Iran stall.

Breitbart News reported earlier Wednesday that President Donald Trump had said he was “much less confident” about the prospect of an Iran nuclear deal, after several weeks of sounding bullish about talks.

The Times of Israel reported:

The US State Department confirms that it is evacuating some of its staff from its embassy in Iraq.

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In addition, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has authorized the voluntary departure of military dependents from locations across the Middle East, a US official said. Another US official said that it was mostly relevant to family members located in Bahrain — where the bulk of them are based.

There have been no evacuations from the U.S. Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, the Times noted.

President Trump is said to have discouraged Israel from airstrikes on nuclear sites in Iran — whose air defenses were largely destroyed after Iran launched massive ballistic missile attacks against Israel last year — while talks were ongoing.

However, he has also said that he would lead attacks on Iran if talks failed. It is also possible that the U.S. could allow Israel to attack Iran’s nuclear sites on its own, or assist Israel in that effort.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of Trump 2.0: The Most Dramatic ‘First 100 Days’ in Presidential History, available for Amazon Kindle. He is also the author of The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency, now available on Audible. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.