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US troops have been evacuated from bases in the Middle East as reports suggest Trump is planning major strikes on Iran.
The State Department is reducing its staff at diplomatic posts across the region, including in Saudi Arabia where Iran-backed Houthi rebels continue to launch attacks.
A US official and two people familiar with the orders told NBC News that troops stationed at bases in Jordan, Qataer and Kuwait have been ordered to move in recent days
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The advice comes after the group fired missiles at the presidential palace in Yemen last week, killing four and wounding ten. In the days before, several attacks were carried out on Riyadh's King Khalid international airport in Saudi. Seventeen people lost their lives and 300 more were injured.
The US embassy in Riyadh issued a security alert on Wednesday about possible further attacks.
The state department has reportedly been preparing to order diplomats to leave embassies across Gulf states, three US officials told Reuters. A spokesman said "non-emergency US government employees and their families" have been ordered to leave "Saudi Arabia only".
"The safety and security of Department personnel and their families remain our highest priority, and we will continue to take all necessary steps to protect and support them," he added.
Saudi Arabia has been a target of the Houthis due to its support for Yemen's government forces in the country's civil war. Conflict reignited in July after a 2022 truce collapsed following the outbreak of the US-Iran war in earlier this year.
US and Israel carried out joint strikes on several key Iranian site in February. Iran retaliated by attacking US allies across the region, closing the Strait of Hormuz waterway and choking the global supply route.
The Houthis used the conflict as an opportunity to seize stretches of the Red Sea coast last month, an alternative route to the Strait of Hormuz, ramping up fighting with Saudi Arabia.
Washington returned some personnel to the region after some were removed when Tehran launched retaliatory attacks.
However, security alerts swept across the Middle East on Sunday, warning US citizens that fighting with the Houthis could spread beyond the its current borders.
Embassies in Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and several other countries issued coordinated warnings, according to ABC News.
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