State department slammed over lack of help for Americans stuck in Mideast

US politicians slammed the state department on Tuesday for urging US citizens in the Middle East to evacuate three days after the US-Israeli air war against Iran started and when air travel is severely disrupted, saying it showed a lack of proper planning.

On Monday, the department urged Americans across 16 countries in the Middle East to immediately depart the region using “available commercial transportation” without offering any US-government-vouched means. The US embassy in Jerusalem said it was unable to offer help to Americans trying to leave.

“American taxpayers are forced to give Israel $3.8bn every single year, and here is our own US embassy in Jerusalem telling Americans ‘good luck getting out, you are on your own’,” said former congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, who resigned from Congress after a split with President Donald Trump.

“The betrayal is unbelievable,” said Greene, a Republican who has long opposed US involvement in foreign wars.

The US-Israeli air war against Iran, which started on Saturday, has already sent shockwaves around the world, disrupting energy supplies and sending global air transport into chaos. Overnight, Iranian drones struck the US embassy in Saudi Arabia.

Major Gulf aviation hubs, including the world’s busiest international airport, Dubai – which normally handles more than 1,000 flights a day – remained closed for a fourth day on Tuesday, leaving tens of thousands of passengers stranded. Ticket prices have soared.

“Warnings to citizens to evacuate three days into this war, when airspace is closed, is a clear sign of zero strategy and planning by the Trump admin,” said Democratic senator Andy Kim in a post on X. “Now Americans have limited options to evacuate at an extremely dangerous moment with no government assistance. This administration is failing its citizens,” Kim added.

The State department did not immediately respond to questions on how exactly Americans should be departing in the absence of available commercial flights or whether Washington was planning evacuation flights.

On Monday, a US official said the department activated an inter-agency task force to manage the situation and had launched a dedicated WhatsApp channel, which it said had amassed 15,000 followers. It did not mention any government help for evacuation of citizens.

“So the state department is forcing everyone to immediately leave the region but is also refusing to help people leave the region,” Democratic senator Chris Murphy said in an X post. “Incompetence everywhere,” he added.

Congressman Ted Lieu from California urged the administration to schedule US government evacuation flights for the stranded Americans.

Crude oil benchmarks rose about 7% on Tuesday, soaring for a third session as the conflict widened. In a social media post overnight, Trump said there was a “virtually unlimited supply” of US munitions and that “wars can be fought forever, and very successfully, using just these supplies”.

As Washington presses ahead with one of the most consequential military actions in recent history, the US lacks Senate-confirmed ambassadors across many countries in the region including Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Iraq, Egypt, Kuwait, Algeria and the UAE.

“The US embassy is not in a position at this time to evacuate or directly assist Americans in departing Israel,” the embassy said in an X post, adding that citizens could sign up to the shuttles being operated by the Israeli ministry of tourism to the Taba border crossing with Egypt.

It reiterated that Washington could not ensure the safety of the route. “The US embassy cannot make any recommendation (for or against) the shuttle. If you choose to avail yourself of this option to depart, the US government cannot guarantee your safety,” it said.

It is not clear how many American and dual citizens are based in the region. The state department has urged its nationals to sign up with its database when they are abroad.

On Tuesday, the department announced that it had ordered the departure of non-emergency US government personnel and their family members from its embassies in Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Jordan. Similar measures have already been taken for US missions in Lebanon and Israel.

Reuters