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Excerpt:Here we go again: “Heightened security risks” in the Middle East have Iraq embassy staff and dependents preparing to evacuate the country, according to State Department officials. A Pentagon official said that SecDef Pete Hegseth also “authorized the voluntary departure of military dependents from locations across the Middle East.”
Reuters’s sources “did not specify which security risks had prompted the decision and reports of the potential evacuation pushed up oil prices by more than 4%.”
“The State Department regularly reviews American personnel abroad and this decision was made as a result of a recent review,” is all that White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly had to say about it today. But sources told the UK Independent that the State Department also authorized “the departure of nonessential personnel and family members from Bahrain and Kuwait.”
“Authorized” in this case means that State or Defense will provide and pay for transportation, if requested. It isn’t like an embassy spouse isn’t allowed to travel without permission.