The U.S. embassy compound in Baghdad's Green Zone. Washington did not say how many embassy employees would be removed from the Middle East amid indications that Israel appears to be preparing an attack on Iran.AHMAD AL-RUBAYE/AFP/Getty Images
Fears are mounting that Israel is preparing to attack Iran to try to disable facilities that could make nuclear fuel for a bomb.
The U.S. State Department on Thursday ordered some staff to leave the embassy in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad on concerns that an airstrike could trigger a wider war. Israel’s goal would be to prevent Iran from enriching uranium to the point it could becomes weapons-grade material.
A senior European diplomat told The Globe and Mail that there were indications an Israeli attack on Iran could come at any time, even though the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump has been trying to strike a deal with Tehran that would see the Islamic Republic cut back its nuclear program.
The diplomat said that an attack could enflame the whole Middle East if Iran were to counterattack, potentially drawing in U.S. forces if its military assets in the region were hit. The Globe is not identifying the diplomat, who was not authorized to speak to the media about a potential Israeli attack.
On the same day, Mr. Trump said that an Israeli strike on Iran was possible.
“I don’t want to say imminent, but it looks like it’s something that could very well happen,” he told reporters at the White House. “It’s very simple, not complicated. Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon.”
U.S. President Donald Trump says an Israeli attack on Iran over Tehran’s nuclear program is not imminent but 'could very well happen.' Trump is urging Iran to negotiate a deal and says a 'massive conflict' could occur if it does not.
The Associated Press
The State department did not say how many employees would be removed from the Middle East. The Associated Press reported that non-essential personnel and family would be withdrawn from Baghdad and that the same categories of staff had been authorized to leave from the U.S. missions in Kuwait and Bahrain.
The U.S. embassy in Jerusalem restricted the movement of employees.
“Due to increased regional tensions, the U.S. government employees and their family members are restricted from travel outside the greater Tel Aviv . . . Jerusalem and Be’er Sheva areas until further notice,” the embassy said on its website, without mentioning Iran.
Mr. Trump has warned Israel not to bomb Iran. He has favoured negotiations to prevent the country from enriching more uranium. But in recent days, the President seems to have lost faith in the U.S.’s ability to strike a deal.
“I’m getting more and more less confident about it,” he told The New York Post on Wednesday. “They seem to be delaying and I think that’s a shame.”
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps commander Hossein Salami told reporters on Wednesday that Iran would respond to an Israeli attack “in a more forceful and destructive way” than it had in previous conflicts.
Defence Minister Gen. Aziz Nasirzadeh said a conflict between Israel and Iran could threaten U.S. forces in the region.
“America will have to leave the region because all its military bases are within our reach and we will, without any consideration, target them in the host countries,” he said.
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The U.S. has a broad network of permanent and temporary military sites in the region. The permanent bases are located in Iraq, where some 2,500 U.S. soldiers are stationed, as well as Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
Despite the apparent diplomatic stand-off, the U.S. and Iran are still proceeding with negotiations. The chief U.S. negotiator, Steve Witkoff, and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi were due to hold a sixth round of talks on Sunday in Oman.
Iran has always insisted that its nuclear program is peaceful and that its uranium-enrichment program is designed to power nuclear-generating plants, not make weapons. But its position appeared to weaken somewhat earlier this week when the United Nations’s nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, declared Iran in breach of its non-proliferation obligations for the first time in almost 20 years.
Israel, believed to be the only country in the Middle East with an arsenal of nuclear weapons, does not believe that Iran’s uranium-enrichment program is only for peaceful purposes. In a speech in April, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that “One way or the other, Iran will not have nuclear weapons.”
Iran’s failure to comply with the IAEA’s requirements could trigger a UN Security Council decision to restore economic sanctions on Tehran, which were lifted as part of the 2015 deal among Iran, the administration of then-president Barack Obama, the UN Security Council and the European Union. The deal prevented Iran from producing highly enriched uranium that could be used in a nuclear weapon.
Mr. Trump withdrew the U.S. from the agreement in 2018, during his first term in office. Iran took that as a signal it could enrich uranium to a higher grade.