US sending charter flights to evacuate Americans in Middle East

Eric Martin, Bloomberg News on Mar 3, 2026

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The U.S. State Department announced plans to help evacuate Americans who want to leave the Middle East amid the war with Iran, after conflicting messages about the scale of the threat prompted confusion among thousands of U.S. citizens in the region.

In a statement, the department announced that it would send chartered planes to help Americans seeking to leave the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Jordan. It’s also offering ground transport for people who want to get out of countries whose airspace has been closed.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said 9,000 Americans have left the region and almost 1,600 were asking for help to get out. He added that the administration was going to step up strikes against Iran in the coming hours and days.

“We need to know where you are, we need to have contact information for Americans who need assistance,” Rubio said, later adding, “you’re going to really begin to perceive a change in the scope and in the intensity of these attacks.”

He said the U.S. had begun drawing down its diplomatic presence before the military campaign began last Saturday.

The Trump administration struggled to clarify its message after it provoked confusion a day before with contradictory information for Americans in the region. On Monday afternoon, Mora Namdar, the assistant secretary of state for consular affairs, posted to X that Americans should “DEPART NOW” using “available commercial transportation.”

The post went viral in the region, as Iran’s retaliation for US and Israeli attacks sent missiles and explosive drones across the Gulf. Employees at international companies in Dubai contacted their firms to find out if the war would trigger evacuation plans.

Namdar posted a graphic listing 14 countries, from Egypt to Israel, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, as well as the West Bank and Gaza. But the State Department’s website did not feature a similar message. As of Tuesday morning, it listed Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Gaza as “Do Not Travel” zones. But some of the other countries had lesser warnings.

The department had also come under criticism for not doing enough to help Americans leave, considering that flight cancellations and airspace closures have been widespread.

“American tax payers are forced to give Israel $3.8 BILLION every single year, and here is our own US Embassy in Jerusalem telling Americans good luck getting out, you are on your own,” Marjorie Taylor Greene, the former Georgia congresswoman who recently stepped down after a fallout with President Donald Trump, said on X. “The betrayal is unbelievable.”

Asked whether the U.S. had a plan in place to evacuate Americans, Rubio said “that’s the plan we’re trying to carry out.” But decisions by countries to close their airspace had complicated the departures.

Senator Andy Kim, a New Jersey Democrat, who once worked at the State Department, wrote on social media that warning Americans to leave three days after the war began, “when airspace is closed, is a clear sign of ZERO strategy and planning by the Trump admin.”

The administration has said that surprise was a key element for the operation that included a strike to kill Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The State Department had ordered the evacuation of nonemergency personnel and family members from embassies in Israel and Lebanon amid rising tensions in the week before the first strikes on Saturday.

“Crises like this underscore why a strong, fully resourced Foreign Service workforce is critical to America’s interests and safety,” John Dinkelman, president of the American Foreign Service Association, said in a statement. “Over the past year, the service has been weakened and key ambassadorial posts left vacant — particularly in the Middle East — reducing our ability to respond effectively.”

Trump has said there would be no letup in the U.S.-Israeli bombing campaign that has already struck hundreds of targets across Iran. In his comments to reporters on Tuesday, Rubio said the U.S. would continue to step up its campaign.

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