US urges its citizens in Middle East to be ready to leave in case of escalation
Jaroslav Lukiv
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US embassies across the Middle East - including the mission in Iraq - reposted the security alert for American nationals, warning of "unexpected escalation"
The US government has urged Americans across the Middle East to be alert and ready to leave "should there be escalation" in the region.
It comes amid US media reports that President Donald Trump may be planning new, intense strikes on Iran over the weekend.
In its alert, the State Department said: "US diplomatic facilities, including outside the Middle East, have been targeted.
"Iran and groups supportive of Iran may target other US interests overseas or at locations associated with the United States and Americans throughout the world."
Tehran earlier accused the US of escalating tensions, saying any regional state co-operating with Washington would be "engulfed by the flames of war".
"Americans currently in the Middle East should exercise caution and heightened vigilance and should be prepared for flight cancellations, periodic airspace closures, and potential travel disruptions," the security alert said on Saturday.
"Americans in the region should consider departing, or be prepared to depart should there be escalation. Americans outside the Middle East should seriously reconsider travel to and through the region."
US embassies across the Middle East - including in Bahrain, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates - reposted the security alert for American nationals, warning of "unexpected escalation".
US media earlier quoted US officials as saying Trump could order fresh strikes against Iran as soon as this weekend.
The US and Israel were planning what would be one of the harshest bombing campaigns to date against energy infrastructure targets in Iran, multiple sources told CBS News, the BBC's media partner in America.
CBS News said the plan came up during Trump's cabinet meeting on Friday, according to sources briefed later. Some White House aides who focus on politics were strongly opposed, one of the sources said.
At the cabinet meeting, Trump was heard saying while reporters were still in the room: "We'll be hitting them [Iranians] very hard. At some point, they're going to say, 'We just can't take it anymore.'"
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On Thursday, the US military said it had completed a "heavy wave" of strikes against Iran in retaliation for Tuesday's attempted ballistic missile attacks on American forces.
The US Central Command (Centcom) said it hit "dozens" of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) targets in response to Tehran's firing on US bases in Jordan and at ships in the Strait of Hormuz.
Iranian state media said three people - including a two-year-old child - were killed in the US strikes.
The conflict expanded this week after a number of days of relative calm, with the first publicly announced joint US-Saudi strikes targeting Iranian proxies in Iraq.
Washington and Tehran have engaged in escalating strikes and counter-strikes since a ceasefire in April aimed at pausing the war fell apart in June.
The US has blockaded Iranian ports and bombed Iranian sites, while Iran has fired missiles and drones at US assets in countries across the Middle East and targeted shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, a global oil shipping route.
The US and Israel began launching their strikes against Iran on 28 February.
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