US State Department evacuated 54,000 people during Middle East conflict

When the United States and Israel initiated strikes against Iran on Feb. 28, the retaliation that followed rippled through fifteen nations in less than a week. In the first 24 hours of the war, Iran hit targets in nine countries. By the end of the first week, 15 countries were pulled into the conflict. The State Department oversaw the evacuation of approximately 4,000 of its own personnel and their family members from diplomatic missions while helping more than 50,000 private U.S. Citizens flee the region during the initial weeks of the war.

State Department officials in Washington and across the Gulf were already holding emergency meetings before the first strike. “We were all tracking that something could happen. We were watching the negotiations really, closely,” said a senior official in Washington who oversees Gulf relations. “We had seen the military buildup, which, of course, meant the president had options.”

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The U.S. Mission to Lebanon ordered all non-emergency employees and family members of staff to leave the country a little over a week before the attacks started, while the American embassy in Israel gave those same groups authorization to depart roughly 24 hours before the first U.S. Strikes. In the United Arab Emirates, the lack of hardened shelters added a layer of difficulty. “Unlike Israel or other countries that are used to [strikes], the UAE doesn't really have bunkers built in place,” a senior official at the Abu Dhabi embassy explained. “A lot of us live in towers where we're fully surrounded by glass.” The UAE’s defense ministry reports that as of late March, it has successfully intercepted nearly 400 missiles and over 1,800 drone strikes from Iran, yet 11 people were killed and more than 170 injured.

It was 10:03 in the morning on Saturday, Feb. 28, when the first incoming missile alert sounded in Bahrain. By 11, the first meeting on potential evacuations at the U.S. Embassy in Manama had already concluded. “I wasn't doing just Finance. IT wasn't doing just IT. We were all working together to advance the mission, which was to get everybody out safely,” recalled the embassy’s financial-management official. The first convoy carrying 22 people, mostly family members of employees, left the next day for Saudi Arabia, where employees of the U.S. Mission there helped arrange their onward travel. Officials at the embassy in Manama continued running convoys and ensuring everyone had visas required to cross the border until Thursday of that week, when the final eight people and 19 pets left to be evacuated were boarded onto vehicles and shuttled out of Bahrain.

The department organized more than 60 evacuation flights from the Middle East. “On our first flight for U.S. Government employees, we had about 20 to 25 seats available to U.S. Citizens,” said a senior official at the Abu Dhabi embassy. Those seats were quickly filled as officials reached out to Americans who had already messaged the embassy expressing a desire to leave. One consular officer recounted a harrowing call: “I remember one phone call that I had with a woman. She was scared to depart… Nothing can fully prepare you for helping Americans during a time of war… I was very happy to shake her hand.”

Iran responded with missile and drone attacks directed at American-linked facilities and several regional states, including Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman and Jordan. Hamad International Airport published information confirming that aircraft movements had been suspended during a temporary closure of Qatari airspace. Bahrain’s commercial operations appeared severely reduced or temporarily halted. Gulf Air’s network, heavily dependent on Bahrain’s hub, faced operational pressure. Kuwait raised its military alert level and responded to hostile aerial targets. In contrast, the United Arab Emirates’ airports—including Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Sharjah—remained comparatively busy, with flight-tracking displays showing arrivals and departures.

The European Union Aviation Safety Agency had already advised operators to avoid Iranian, Iraqi and Lebanese airspace until 31 August.

“We are continuing to coordinate flights for American citizens that are desiring to depart from locations where we do not have commercial flight availability,” a senior official said. “We have used -- and this is sensitive information -- but friendly embassies or also other private locations as a safe meeting points.”

So far, only the U.S. Embassy in Kuwait City has fully suspended operations. Missions have shifted to a hybrid model. “We've kind of quickly transitioned to this hybrid system,” a senior official working inside the Lebanon mission observed, noting that the arrangement allowed the embassy to “continue the important work of the embassy despite the upheaval.”

JPMorgan sets up a private banking team in Dubai to provide wealth management services. The UAE has been witnessing an influx of western wealth managers, with the region providing convenient time zones and tax-free status. Shell is nearing the sale of its fuel stations in South Africa to a unit of Abu Dhabi’s biggest oil company in a deal valued at about $1 billion.

The U.S. Central Command said the operation targeted Iranian air defence systems, radar sites, missile and drone sites and reaffirmed that the Strait of Hormuz remains open to commercial shipping. The United Arab Emirates has condemned in the strongest terms the renewed Iranian attacks targeting the Kingdom of Bahrain, the State of Kuwait, the State of Qatar, the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan and the Sultanate of Oman with missiles and drones.

“We are still looking at efforts to continue to bring out Chief of Mission personnel from locations, so that it's an ongoing effort,” a senior official said.