Clayton Orders Staff Cuts at Seven Middle East Missions After Intelligence Flags Advanced Iranian Plots

Director of National Intelligence Jay Clayton instructed the State Department to reduce personnel at seven US missions in the Middle East following an internal assessment of rising threats from Iran. The decision, detailed in a memo to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, marks the most substantial diplomatic withdrawal in the region since the conflict began in late February.

Clayton stated that intelligence agencies had gathered evidence indicating Iran has substantially increased its efforts to target US personnel abroad. According to the memo, lethal plots have reached advanced stages in the Middle East and other parts of the world. The warning comes as US officials report that threats to American staff, including ambassadors, are at their highest level since the start of the US-Israel war on Iran on February 28.

The State Department announced on Wednesday that it is removing non-essential staff from its embassy in Saudi Arabia due to escalating Houthi attacks on Saudi infrastructure. Reports from multiple media outlets indicate that similar quiet reductions are occurring at US missions in the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Jordan, and Lebanon. A US official told The New York Times that Houthi attacks and Iranian terror plots targeting US officials are driving these specific decisions.

Washington has not issued a public statement on the memo, though one official confirmed its authenticity to The Times. Another official noted that while Iran has laid out ambitions, it lacks the capacity to execute all of them. Some intelligence suggests Iranian operatives are already active inside the United States, and the US pulled bombers from an airbase in England this month after a security incident that led UK authorities to arrest several men suspected of working with Iranian intelligence.

Iran has not responded directly to the memo but has repeatedly threatened US and allied bases in the region. The Pentagon has confirmed that 21 US military personnel have been killed in the Middle East since the war began. On Wednesday, Revolutionary Guard spokesman Hossein Mohebbi declared that Tehran would adopt a new offensive strategy if the US resumed attacks, claiming that the quality, range, and power of Iranian missiles have improved.

Reuters cited two senior Iranian security officials who said Tehran has detailed plans to target undersea communications cables in the Gulf if new US-Israeli attacks occur. Iran’s security chief, Mohsen Rezaei, warned that data centers and artificial intelligence facilities across the region could also become targets if the war resumes. The threat assessment arrives as President Donald Trump suggested on Friday that the US may launch another military operation following the mid-term elections next month.