As if we didn’t have enough on our minds already, things in the Middle East are heating up. Details are as yet scarce, but we do know that the United States State Department is preparing to order the evacuation of the U.S. Embassy in Iraq.

🚨BREAKING🚨 The United States is preparing to evacuate its embassy in Iraq due to a growing security risk in the Middle East. A similar directive was issued earlier for American vessels in the Gulf.

— Raylan Givens (@JewishWarrior13) June 11, 2025

The embassy in Iraq isn’t the only one affected; our embassies in Bahrain and Kuwait are sending non-essential personnel home.

🚨BREAKING🚨US State Department allows Non-Essential employees and their families to leave the Embassies in Bahrain and Kuwait https://t.co/Jv8O9zkCQ1

— Raylan Givens (@JewishWarrior13) June 11, 2025

The Associated Press has some more details in both cases:

The State Department is preparing to order the departure of all nonessential personnel from the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad due to the potential for regional unrest, two U.S. officials said Wednesday.

The Baghdad embassy has already been on limited staffing, and the order will not affect a large number of personnel. 

The department, however, also is authorizing the departure of nonessential personnel and family members from Bahrain and Kuwait. That gives them an option on whether to leave the country.

The Pentagon is standing by to support a potential evacuation of U.S. personnel from U.S. Embassy Baghdad, another U.S. official said.

While there has not been any official statement as to the reason for this evacuation as of this writing, there are the upcoming nuclear weapons talks with Iran that may stoke tensions. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is considering further sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program.

Tensions in the region have been rising in recent days as talks between the U.S. and Iran over its rapidly advancing nuclear program appear to have hit an impasse.

Meanwhile, the Board of Governors at the International Atomic Energy Agency was set to potentially vote on a measure to censure Iran. That could set in motion an effort to snap back United Nations sanctions on Iran via a measure in Tehran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers that’s still active until October.

It’s unclear what, if any, steps Iran might take in response to sanctions from the IAEA or demands from the United States. Iran is a rogue state, but it is a rogue state whose primary exports are terrorism and hot air; they have not shown an inclination for overt military action, as it tends to result in things like most of their navy being swept from the seas. Still, it seems unlikely this drastic an action would be taken by the State Department without reliable intelligence of some planned action, either by Iran or their proxies, like Hamas, Hezbollah, or any one of the many groups of Islamist goblins that Iran trains and funds.