9,000 Americans evacuated as Middle East War escalates

By Kazeem Ugbodaga

U.S. Secretary of State, Marco Rubio has announced that about 9,000 Americans have been evacuated from the Middle East since the outbreak of the war with Iran, as Washington accelerates emergency efforts to assist citizens seeking to leave the region.

Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Rubio said the U.S. Department of State has been implementing evacuation plans for the past 72 hours through a combination of charter flights, military transport and expanded commercial airline options.

“All right. I have a couple updates for you. The State Department is now actively, as it has been now for the last 72 hours, implementing our plans to help Americans in the Middle East be able to depart,” Rubio said.

“As of a few minutes ago, 9,000 Americans have been able to leave the region since the start of this war. We have about 1,500 Americans that are requesting assistance with departure.”

Rubio explained that the United States was coordinating multiple evacuation routes but faced major disruptions due to airspace closures and attacks on regional infrastructure.

“We have identified and continued to identify charter flights, military flight options, and expanded commercial flight options,” he said.

“The impediment we’re facing now, we’ve had a couple instances in which we have planes in the air and on the way, and unfortunately the airspace gets closed and they have to turn back around.”

He urged Americans still in the region to immediately register with U.S. authorities so evacuation teams can locate and contact them as travel windows open.

“It is very important, we need to know where you are. We need to have contact information for Americans that need assistance,” Rubio said.

“They have to register with us, because as these options begin to open up, we have to be able to call you, reach you and know where you’re staying so we can coordinate appropriately.”

The secretary added that evacuation efforts could also include land routes into neighbouring countries if airports remain closed or under attack.

Meanwhile, Rubio confirmed that a drone strike had hit an area near the U.S. diplomatic facility in Dubai, though no American personnel were harmed.

“The last update I had was that a drone struck a parking lot adjacent to the chancellery building and then set off a fire,” he said.

“All personnel are accounted for.”

He warned that U.S. embassies and diplomatic facilities across the region are facing growing threats as the conflict intensifies.

“Our embassies and our diplomatic facilities are under direct attack from a terroristic regime,” Rubio said.

On the military front, Rubio reiterated Washington’s objective of dismantling Iran’s strategic capabilities, particularly its missile programme and naval forces.

“Iran can never have a nuclear weapon, and we will not allow Iran to hide behind a massive ballistic missile inventory,” he said.

According to Rubio, operations led by United States Central Command are already targeting Iran’s missile launchers, production facilities and naval assets.

“CENTCOM is carrying out a systematic destruction of their missile belt, destruction of their launchers, and destruction of their ability to make these, as well as the destruction of their navy,” he said.

Rubio also rejected claims that the U.S. military action was driven by Israel, insisting the decision had already been made by the White House.

“The President had already made a decision to act,” he said.

“The President determined we were not going to get hit first. It’s that simple. If you tell the President of the United States that if we don’t go first we’re going to have more people killed, the President’s going to go first.”

Rubio defended the strikes as necessary to stop Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.

“This terroristic, radical, cleric-led regime cannot be ever allowed to have nuclear weapons,” he said.

“The world will be a safer place when these radical clerics no longer have access to these weapons.”