Americans in the Middle East have been struggling to leave the region amid the Iran war, with multiple U.S. embassies saying they cannot help.
On Tuesday, the fourth day of the war, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Capitol Hill that more than 1,500 people are still asking for assistance. State Department official Dylan Johnson wrote on X that the department has contacted “nearly 3,000 Americans abroad,” and that it “is actively securing military aircraft and charter flights for American citizens who wish to leave the Middle East.” The State Department also posted a three-step guide for Americans in the region.
But embassies have largely not been a resource to Americans.
“The U.S. Embassy is not in a position at this time to evacuate or directly assist Americans in departing Israel,” the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem wrote on X.
The U.S. Embassy in Qatar also warned Americans that they could not help with evacuations.
“Out of an abundance of caution and until further notice, U.S. Embassy Doha has suspended routine consular services,” it said, adding that Americans who stay should create a contingency plan, but “should not rely on the U.S. government for assisted departure or evacuation.”
Meanwhile, the Saudi Arabian embassy instructed Americans not to come to its consulate in Dhahran due to “a threat of imminent missile and UAV attacks.”
The State Department has urged Americans to leave Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel, the West Bank and Gaza, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen.
But “absurdity” and “chaos” are just two of the words some have used to describe their experiences.
Randy Manner, a retired U.S. major general who was once the deputy commanding general of the Third U.S. Army in Kuwait, told The New York Times he has been stranded in the United Arab Emirates since Friday.
“It is the epitome of absurdity. ‘Leave the country,’ but yet the airspace is closed,” he said, referring to Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Bahrain, and Qatar closing their airspaces. According to aviation analytics firm Cirium, airlines have canceled approximately 18,000 flights arriving to and departing from the Middle East since Saturday.
Manner added: “This is nothing less than a total failure of the U.S. government to provide the expected assistance to American civilians who are caught in harm’s way.”
Krista Jucknath Hickman told the BBC about the “chaos” that ensued when she and her husband, Mike, had their flight out of Dubai on Saturday canceled.
“Everything stopped,” said Hickman, a federal employee who said she registered her trip with the State Department beforehand but got no security alert.
Hickman said she tried to reach the U.S. embassy.
“The orders are not realistic, not supportive,” she said. “The number provided by the State Department for support is unable to help. I called twice. Both times I was told there are no evacuation procedures in place.”
Hickman added: “All that can be done is book flights that don’t take off.”
The two resorted to paying $1,000 to be driven into Oman.
Similarly, U.S. businessman James Blunt told NOTUS about calling the hotline while in the UAE: “They are absolutely disinterested, no sense of urgency.” He eventually took a commercial flight out, without the government’s help.
Another person told the outlet that two calls to the hotline on Tuesday went unanswered.
Texas resident Oliver Sims, who was returning from a friend’s wedding in India, told ABC News that it has been “really scary” being stranded in Qatar, for instance being woken up by Iranian drone attacks.
When reached for comment, the State Department directed the Daily Beast to its official statement from Tuesday afternoon, which in part said that it was “facilitating charter flights from the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and Jordan for American citizens, and will continue to secure additional capacity as security conditions allow.”
It added that “over 9,000″ citizens have returned to the U.S. so far.
Trump, when asked about the slow response to evacuate Americans, said in the Oval Office on Tuesday that the war outbreak “happened all very quickly.”
“I thought we were going to have a situation where we were going to be attacked,” he said. “They were getting ready to attack Israel. They were getting ready to attack others.”
The Daily Beast has reached out to the White House for comment.
