Iran Steps Up Plots to Kill US Diplomats in Middle East
24th October 2026
Iran has “substantially increased” attempts to kill American diplomats and officials in the Middle East, US intelligence has found.
An unclassified memo from Jay Clayton, the US director of national intelligence, to Marco Rubio, the secretary of state, warned that some of the “lethal plotting efforts” had reached “advanced stages”.
US officials told Axios, which first obtained the one-page memo, that the intelligence spurred the US to withdraw non-essential staff and their families from its embassy and several consulates in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday.
Citing the threats from Iran and the Houthis, the US state department announced it would also reduce staffing at embassies in Jordan, Lebanon, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, but unlike in Saudi Arabia, diplomats would not be required to leave.