Non-essential US embassy staff and their dependants in Baghdad are evacuating from Iraq due to heightened security risks, US government sources said on Wednesday.
Officials did not say exactly what prompted the removal, however, in recent days talks over Iran’s nuclear programme appear to have stalled.
A US state department official told the BBC: “We are constantly assessing the appropriate personnel posture at all our embassies.
“Based on our latest analysis, we decided to reduce the footprint of our mission in Iraq.”
US President Donald Trump told a podcast on Wednesday that he was growing less confident that a deal could be reached over Iran’s nuclear programme.
The US wants Iran to stop enriching uranium, which can be used to create a nuclear bomb, in exchange for easing economic sanctions.
Iranian Defence Minister Aziz Nasirzadeh said his country would retaliate against US bases in the region if talks fail and Trump orders military strikes against Iran.
Reuters reports that US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth also approved the voluntary departure of families of US military personnel from countries across the Middle East, including Kuwait and Bahrain.
Testifying in front of a congressional panel on Wednesday, Hegseth said he believed there are “plenty of indications” that Iran is “moving their way towards something that would look a lot like a nuclear weapon”.
Iran says its uranium enrichment programme is for civilian energy generation and that it is not trying to build an atomic bomb.
Also on Wednesday, the UK’s Maritime Trade Operations organisation – part of the Royal Navy – issued a warning saying that increased military tensions in the Middle East could affect shipping.
The price of oil initially increased more than 4% when news of the US evacuation broke, in anticipation of regional insecurity potentially leading to supply problems.
Around 2,500 US troops are based in Iraq, according to the defence department.
Additional reporting by Tom Bateman in Washington
