The United States said on Thursday it had restricted its employees in Israel and their family members from personal travel outside the metropolitan areas of Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and Be’er Sheva amid threats from Iran to retaliate against its regional adversary.
Iran has vowed revenge for the April 1 airstrike on its embassy compound in Damascus, raising tension in a region already strained by the Gaza conflict.
“Out of an abundance of caution, US government employees and their family members are restricted from personal travel outside the metropolitan areas of Tel Aviv (including Herzliya, Netanya, and Even Yehuda), Jerusalem, and Be’er Sheva until further notice,” the statement said. the U.S. Embassy said in a security alert on its website Thursday. “U.S. government personnel are authorized to transit between these three areas for personal travel.”
Washington has a policy of informing all US citizens with these types of warnings when it updates security measures for its personnel in a country.
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US President Joe Biden said on Wednesday that Iran was threatening to launch a “significant attack on Israel” and that the United States remained committed to the security of its ally.
When asked about the security alert, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller noted that Iran had been making public threats toward Israel.
“We make continuous assessments all the time about the situation on the ground,” Miller said at a news conference. “I’m not going to talk about the specific assessments that led us to restrict personal travel for our employees and family members, but we are clearly monitoring the threat environment in the Middle East and specifically Israel.”
Report by Simon Lewis; Edited by Sandra Maler.
