- US Ambassador to Israel urged embassy staff to leave Israel immediately if they wish to depart
- Iran has threatened US bases and Israel, risking a wider Middle East conflict
- US demands Iran halt uranium enrichment and roll back missile and armed group support
US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee told embassy staff on Friday that if they want to leave Israel, they should do it "today". In an email sent to US mission employees at 10:24am, he wrote that staffers should secure any airline that would continue travelling to Washington, but "the first priority will be getting expeditiously out of the country," according to a report by the New York Times.
"There is no need to panic," he wrote, "but for those desiring to leave, it's important to make plans to depart sooner rather than later."
If America attacks, Iran has said US military bases in the region would be considered legitimate targets, putting at risk tens of thousands of American service members. Iran has also threatened to attack Israel, meaning a regional war again could erupt across the Middle East.
US ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visit the Western Wall, Judaism's holiest prayer site, in the old city of Jerusalem on September 14, 2025.
Photo Credit: AFP
US-Iran Talks
Trump wants Iran to completely halt its enrichment of uranium and roll back both its long-range missile programme and its support for regional armed groups. Iran says it will only discuss nuclear issues and maintains its atomic programme is for entirely peaceful purposes.
Read | In Historic First, US Deploys Stealth Fighters In Israel Amid Iran Tensions
Trump on February 19 gave Iran 15 days to reach a deal, and while Iran has insisted the discussions focus solely on its nuclear programme, the US wants Tehran's missile programme and its support for extremist groups curtailed.
The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday that Trump's negotiating team would demand that Iran dismantle its three main nuclear sites and hand over all its remaining enriched uranium to the United States.
Read | Inside Iran's Missile Power: Why It Alarms West And How Far They Can Reach
Iran said Friday that in order to reach a deal, the US will have to drop its "excessive demands", tempering the optimism expressed after talks seen as a last-ditch bid to avert war.
A previous attempt at negotiations collapsed when Israel launched strikes on Iran last June, beginning a 12-day war that the US briefly joined to bomb Iranian nuclear sites.
(With inputs from agencies)
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