A newly circulated US intelligence memo warns that Iran is in the “advanced stages” of alleged plans to assassinate American officials in the Middle East and other parts of the world.
The warning comes as oil prices climb again and speculation grows that Donald Trump could order renewed strikes against Tehran after the midterm elections.
The document, drafted by Director of National Intelligence Jay Clayton for Secretary of State Marco Rubio, indicates that the intelligence should support ongoing efforts to reduce staffing levels at US diplomatic missions.
Clayton wrote that his teams “have received intelligence that Iran has substantially increased efforts to target US personnel.”
“The lethal plotting efforts by the Iranians against US citizens have reached advanced stages in both the Middle East and certain other countries,” Clayton said in the memo.
Three US officials, who spoke anonymously because of the sensitive nature of the intelligence, confirmed to the Associated Press that the memo was sent to Rubio in both his role as secretary of state and national security adviser.
The memo surfaced soon after the State Department announced plans to reduce staffing at US embassies in Jordan, Lebanon, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.
According to the three officials, the staffing changes are linked to threats posed by Iran as well as by Yemen’s Iranian-backed Houthi rebels.
A newly circulated US intelligence memo warns that Iran is allegedly in the “advanced stages” of plots targeting American officials in the Middle East and elsewhere
The warning arrives amid another surge in oil prices and reports that Donald Trump could revive military strikes against Tehran after the midterm elections
All four embassies already operate under “restricted operations” protocols, which have reduced the number of personnel stationed there.
Despite the reductions, the diplomatic missions will continue operating.
The situation differs from Saudi Arabia, where nonessential US employees and their families were instructed Wednesday to leave. Personnel in the other four countries have not been ordered to depart.
When it announced the drawdowns this week, the State Department cited a growing threat from Yemen’s Houthi rebels but did not publicly refer to direct Iranian threats against US personnel.
The developments follow a renewed outbreak of hostilities between a Saudi-led coalition and the Houthis, who have launched missile and drone attacks at Saudi Arabia.
US officials have strongly rejected suggestions that the staffing reductions are connected to possible future US and Israeli military action against Iran.
The Daily Mail has contacted the White House and the State Department for comment.
Oil prices jumped Thursday after a report said Donald Trump and Israel had prepared plans for fresh attacks on Iran following the midterm elections.
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The memo from Director of National Intelligence Jay Clayton, addressed to Secretary of State Marco Rubio (pictured), reportedly recommends using the intelligence to support further reductions in US embassy staffing
Brent crude gained 2.68 percent to reach $111.74 a barrel. With only 12 days remaining before the midterm elections, the president is facing pressure to bring fuel costs down.
Soaring gas prices have sent the cost of living spiraling, leaving Republicans staring down the real prospect of losing both the House and Senate in less than two weeks.
US and Israeli commanders have mapped out a ‘short but intensive’ operation targeting Iran’s nuclear sites, energy infrastructure and missile and drone arsenal, the New York Times reported.
Trump has even floated dropping the 22,000-pound GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast bomb, known as the ‘Mother of All Bombs,’ on Pickaxe Mountain, a nuclear site buried deep inside granite.
Officials say the president is smitten with the weapon partly because of its nickname.
Some US planners are convinced a three-day pounding could tip Iran’s battered economy over the edge and force Tehran to cave on its nuclear program after nearly eight months of war.
Trump vowed earlier this month not to strike before the vote, and the full US armada, including three aircraft carriers and thousands of Marines, won’t be in place until early November anyway.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth flew to Israel this week to hash out the new strikes with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Clayton (pictured) said his teams ‘have received intelligence that Iran has substantially increased efforts to target US personnel’
An oil tanker burns after being hit by an Iranian strike in the ship-to-ship transfer zone at Khor al-Zubair port near Basra, Iraq, late Wednesday, March 11
But there is no guarantee the attack goes ahead, with Trump repeatedly pulling the plug on fresh combat operations, including at the last minute earlier this month.
Since the war began, Iran has triggered severe global oil shortages by choking off the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway that carries a fifth of the world’s oil, with speedboats, mines and explosive drones.
One Tehran analyst said Iran would hit back at any strike on Pickaxe by targeting major Saudi refineries, including Aramco’s, to send energy prices soaring and squeeze American voters
Trump, speaking at a rally Friday in Florida, touted the US military operations in Iran, which were dubbed ‘Operation Epic Fury,’ and said that ‘we may do another little Epic Fury, or they’ll agree.’
Mediators have been trying to bring Washington and Tehran back to formal talks as the war has reached a stalemate.
According to Iranian state television, the Revolutionary Guard navy this week again threatened to strike US military bases in the region if the United States keeps helping guide commercial ships through the Strait of Hormuz, a critical waterway for the global energy trade.
‘Any further escalation around the Strait of Hormuz or elsewhere in the region will put civilian lives and the well-being of all regional states and the global economy at great risk,’ Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi wrote in an opinion column in the Financial Times this week.
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