{"id":1667765,"date":"2026-03-06T19:40:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-07T00:40:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/?p=1667765"},"modified":"2026-03-06T19:40:00","modified_gmt":"2026-03-07T00:40:00","slug":"nearly-20000-americans-have-safely-returned-home-from-the-mid-east-state-dept","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/nearly-20000-americans-have-safely-returned-home-from-the-mid-east-state-dept\/1667765\/","title":{"rendered":"Nearly 20,000 Americans Have Safely Returned Home From The Mid-East: State Dept"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nearly 20,000 Americans Have Safely Returned Home From The Mid-East: State Dept<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Authored by Naveen Athrappully via The Epoch Times<\/a> (emphasis ours),<\/em><\/p>\n

Nearly 20,000 U.S. citizens have returned safely from the Middle East since Feb. 28<\/strong>, when the Iran conflict broke out, Dylan Johnson, assistant secretary at the Bureau of Global Public Affairs, said in a March 5 statement.<\/p>\n

Smoke rises from a reported Iranian strike in the industrial district of Doha, Qatar, on March 1, 2026. Mahmud Hams\/AFP via Getty Images<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThese figures do not include the many Americans who have safely relocated to other countries or those who have departed the Middle East but are still in transit back to the United States,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cAt the direction of Secretary [Marco] Rubio, Department of State charter flight and ground transportation operations are underway and will continue to ramp up with additional flights and ground transports taking place today<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThrough the State Department\u2019s 24\/7 Task Force, we have assisted over 10,000 Americans abroad, including offering security guidance and travel assistance. The State Department will continue to actively assist any American citizen abroad, who wishes to depart the Middle East, to do so.\u201d<\/p>\n

Johnson highlighted that the department has set up an online Crisis Intake form for Americans residing in Kuwait, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Israel.<\/p>\n

U.S. citizens completing the form will receive information about upcoming ground transportation and charter aviation options. Americans in the Middle East can contact the State Department at +1-202-501-4444 for assistance.<\/p>\n

In a March 5 post on X, the State Department\u2019s Bureau of Consular Affairs said that in the UAE, limited commercial flights are currently operating out of international airports in the country.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cPassengers are advised not to travel to the airport unless they hold a confirmed ticket and have been explicitly advised by their airline to do so. There are overland routes to Oman and Saudi Arabia where commercial options to depart the region are operating, but there are reports of congestion,\u201d the bureau said.<\/p>\n

In Qatar, the airspace and maritime routes remain closed, but the Salwa land border crossing into Saudi Arabia is currently open, the bureau said.<\/p>\n

In Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza, the Ben Gurion Airport was scheduled to reopen on March 5 for limited inbound flights, according to a post on X by the agency.<\/p>\n

However, \u201cwe have no information yet on when outbound flights may become available<\/strong>,\u201d it said. \u201cThere are overland routes to Taba, Egypt, where commercial options to depart the region are operating. Americans should strongly consider departing on one of these overland routes if they believe it is safe to do so.\u201d<\/p>\n

Americans in Oman should consider leaving as some flights are departing from the nation\u2019s international airports, the bureau said.<\/p>\n

According to data from aviation analytics company Cirium, almost 25,000 of the approximately 44,000 flights scheduled to fly in and out of the Middle East between Saturday and Thursday have been canceled.<\/p>\n

Firepower to \u2018Surge Dramatically\u2019<\/h2>\n

The Iran conflict<\/a>, now in its sixth day on Thursday, began after U.S. and Israeli forces launched coordinated strikes against Tehran on Feb. 28.<\/p>\n

Adm. Brad Cooper, head of U.S. Central Command, said Thursday that strikes on the Iranian Navy have \u201cintensified.\u201d<\/p>\n

U.S. forces have, to date, sunk more than 30 of Iran\u2019s ships, including \u201can Iranian drone carrier ship roughly the size of a World War II aircraft carrier,\u201d Cooper said.<\/p>\n

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said Thursday that firepower over Iran was about to \u201csurge dramatically.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we say more to come, it\u2019s more fighter squadrons, it\u2019s more capabilities, it\u2019s more defensive capabilities,\u201d Hegseth said. \u201cAnd it\u2019s more bomber pulses more frequently.\u201d<\/p>\n

In an update on the war, Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, the Israeli army\u2019s chief of the General Staff, said<\/a> 60 percent of Iran\u2019s missile launchers have been taken out, with 40 percent remaining intact. In addition, 80 percent of Tehran\u2019s air defenses have also been neutralized.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe threat has not yet been removed. Every missile is lethal and poses a danger,\u201d Zamir said. \u201cWe are now moving to the next phase of the operation. In this phase, we will further dismantle the regime and its military capabilities. We have additional surprises ahead that I do not intend to disclose.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Thursday, a war powers resolution<\/a> against Operation Epic Fury failed to pass the House by a vote of 212-219. The resolution aimed to impose guardrails on the United States\u2019 ongoing military operations in Iran. On March 4, the measure failed to pass in the Senate.<\/p>\n

After the House vote, Rep. Mike Johnson (R-La.), speaker of the House, said the United States was conducting a \u201climited operation\u201d in Iran that is \u201climited in scope and duration.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are not at war. We have no intention of being at war,<\/strong>\u201d Johnson said, adding that the U.S. mission against Iran was \u201cnearly accomplished.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Associated Press contributed to this report.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Tyler Durden<\/a><\/span>
\nFri, 03\/06\/2026 – 14:40<\/span><\/p>\n

\u200bhttps:\/\/www.zerohedge.com\/geopolitical\/nearly-20000-americans-have-safely-returned-home-middle-east-state-department<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nearly 20,000 Americans Have Safely Returned Home From The Mid-East: State Dept Authored by Naveen Athrappully via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours), Nearly 20,000 U.S….<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":1667766,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1667765","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","wpcat-1-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1667765","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1667765"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1667765\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1667801,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1667765\/revisions\/1667801"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1667766"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1667765"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1667765"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1667765"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}