Donald Trump has finished moving essential assets into the Middle East if he chooses the military option to put an end to the threats from Iran. Now it appears that the State Department has begun moving non-essential options out of the way – a warning, perhaps, that Trump has tired of circular arguments from Tehran.
The timing and the choice both seem significant. First, the US has begun moving non-essential personnel from Iraq, likely the closest and most vulnerable target for Iran's proxy militias:
Al Arabiya: The U.S. State Department has evacuated non-essential staff from the U.S. Embassy in Iraq. https://t.co/TlducyVVTN
— Open Source Intel (@Osint613) February 27, 2026
It started as a drill, and then ... turned into something else? Likely not. Presumably, the US forces in Baghdad had called it a drill so as to prevent any risk of attack during the pull-out from Shi'ite militias that answer to the IRGC. The embassy will remain staffed by essential diplomatic and security personnel, but that makes it far easier to defend and much more deadly to attack in the event of military conflict.
More pointedly, the State Department ordered the same evacuation in Israel, and the timing there is very interesting, according to AFP:
The United States authorised the departure of non-emergency embassy staff from Israel on Friday, as it threatened strikes on Iran and pressed its biggest military build-up in the Middle East in decades.
The move came a day after a round of Oman-mediated talks between Iran and the US seen as a last-ditch bid to avert war, though initial optimism was tempered by Tehran warning Washington must drop "excessive demands" to reach a deal.
That seems like a very clear signal that the talks in Oman did not go well. The urgency of these moves is another indicator that the talks produced nothing more than the same demands from Iran to keep enriching uranium and the same refusals to discuss their ballistic missiles and terror proxies. The New York Times reported that Ambassador Mike Huckabee urged Americans wishing to leave Israel to get a move on. The destination, Huckabee warned, didn't matter for now, as long as it was out of the Middle East:
The move followed meetings and phone calls through the night, Mr. Huckabee wrote in the email, which made no explicit mention of Iran. He said it resulted from “an abundance of caution” and conversations with the State Department in which officials agreed that the safety of embassy staff was a priority.
Those wishing to leave “should do so TODAY,” Mr. Huckabee continued, urging them to find a flight out of Ben-Gurion Airport to any destination for which they could book passage.
The embassy’s move “will likely result in high demand for airline seats today,” he said in the email. “Focus on getting a seat to anyplace from which you can then continue travel to DC, but the first priority will be getting expeditiously out of country.”
He added that while there might be more outbound flights in the coming days, there also might not be.
So what did happen in Oman? Not much, as it turns out:
In talks that went into the evening, U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner said Iran must destroy its three main nuclear sites—at Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan—and deliver all of its remaining enriched uranium to the U.S., officials said.
They also said any nuclear deal must last forever—not sunset the way restrictions rolled off over time under a nuclear pact negotiated under the Obama administration that Republicans have long said was too weak. President Trump pulled out of that deal, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, in his first term, reimposing strict sanctions on Iran.
Iran rejected the idea of transferring uranium stockpiles abroad. It also has objected to ending enrichment, dismantling its nuclear facilities and permanent restrictions on its program, Iranian state media and people familiar with the talks said.
In fact, Iran hasn't budged an iota since last June. Trump gave them time to settle the issue of nuclear-weapons development in the middle of the war Iran provoked with Israel, but Iran refused to budge off these same positions. Trump ended those talks by destroying the three main sites for nuclear-arms development and uranium enrichment. Even that didn't push the Iranian regime off its refusal to negotiate in reality.
The clock has been ticking ever since. The alarm is about to go off.
Update: Hmmmmmmm.
BEIJING, Feb 27 (Reuters) - China has advised its citizens to avoid travelling to Iran and urged those in the country to evacuate as soon as possible, citing the security situation, state news agency Xinhua reported on Friday, amid rising tensions between Washington and Tehran.
— Idrees Ali (@idreesali114) February 27, 2026
China does a lot of business with Iran. That's no small request from Beijing, and it seems pretty late in the day for them to get their people out of the way. They clearly see this situation as particularly acute now.
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