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By Andrew Stanton
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The State Department provided an update on the number of Americans who have been evacuated from the Middle East amid the ongoing war with Iran on Thursday.
Nearly 20,000 Americans have been evacuated from the region, Assistant Secretary of State Dylan Johnson said in a press release on Thursday.
The United States and Israel struck Iran in a military operation dubbed Operation Epic Fury early Saturday morning after failed talks between the U.S. and Iran to address Iran’s nuclear program. Iran had declined to halt uranium enrichment, a major demand from the U.S. The strikes have continued in the days since and killed Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
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According to the BBC, an estimated 500,000 to 1 million Americans were in the region at the time of the strike. Many remain stranded in the Middle East as the conflict spreads. They have limited options to evacuate as airlines have canceled flights to countries affected by the conflict. President Donald Trump’s administration has faced criticism over evacuations.
Johnson wrote on Thursday that the latest numbers do not include Americans “who have departed the Middle East but are still in transit back to the United States.”
“At 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,” he said.
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More than 23,000 flights scheduled to fly to or from the Middle East have been canceled, the Associated Press reported. But officials have been chartering flights to help evacuate their citizens.
The State Department has urged any Americans still in the Middle East to enroll at step.state.gov to receive the latest security updates from the U.S. embassy or consulate by email. They have also released an online form for Americans in Bahrain, Israel, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, or the United Arab Emirates to help arrange government-facilitated departure options.
Six U.S. service members have died in the conflict. The civilian death toll has reached 1,114, according to the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency.
The conflict continued to widen on Thursday as European governments rushed additional military assets into the Middle East. Strikes continued across the region. The U.S. military wrote in a post on X on Thursday that Iran's "ability to impact U.S. forces and regional partners is rapidly declining, while American combat power continues to build."
Why Did the U.S. and Israel Attack Iran?
Trump said the strikes were intended to crush Iran’s nuclear and missile capabilities and urged Iranians to overthrow their leaders once the operation ends, telling them to “take over your government.”
In a speech announcing the attack on Saturday, Trump said: "Our objective is to defend the American people by eliminating imminent threats from the Iranian regime...Its menacing activities directly endanger the United States, our troops, our bases overseas and our allies throughout the world.
“It has always been the policy of the United States, in particular my administration, that this terrorist regime can never have a nuclear weapon. I'll say it again, they can never have a nuclear weapon. That is why, in Operation Midnight Hammer last June, we obliterated the regime's nuclear program at Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan.”
He warned Iranians that “it’s very dangerous outside. Bombs will be dropping everywhere,” but once the operation is finished, “take over your government. It will be yours to take.”
Iran has repeatedly denied pursuing a nuclear weapon and had engaged in diplomatic talks with the U.S. only days earlier to prevent military conflict.
Trump has previously called for regime change in Iran. The U.S. launched strikes against Iran in June 2025, damaging three major nuclear facilities: Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan. The president also referenced Iran’s recent bloody crackdown on protesters in the country in his speech, saying, “Iran is the world's number one state sponsor of terror and just recently killed tens of thousands of its own citizens on the street as they protested.”
Trump has also said the strikes would help to diminish the power of Iran's Navy.
"I have just been informed that we have destroyed and sunk 9 Iranian Naval Ships, some of them relatively large and important. We are going after the rest — They will soon be floating at the bottom of the sea, also! In a different attack, we largely destroyed their Naval Headquarters. Other than that, their Navy is doing very well!" the president wrote on Truth Social on Sunday.
The Defense Intelligence Agency's 2025 Worldwide Threat Assessment report concluded that Iran had not been producing a nuclear weapon.
"Iran almost certainly is not producing nuclear weapons, but Iran has undertaken activities in recent years that better position it to produce them, if it chooses to do so. Since 2019, Iran conducted activities that exceed previous Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) limits, including increasing the size and enrichment levels of its uranium stockpile, producing small quantities of uranium metal, restricting International Atomic Energy Agency monitoring to preJCPOA levels, and expanding uranium enrichment at its Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant," the report reads.
What Did Trump Say About Evacuations?
Trump addressed evacuations during a meeting on Tuesday, saying there was no plan because it “happened all very quickly.”
“Well, because it happened all very quickly. We thought, and I thought maybe more so than most, I could ask Marco [Rubio], but I thought we were going to have a situation where we were going to be attacked. They were getting ready to attack Israel. They were getting ready to attack others,” he said. “You’re seeing that right now.”
The Trump administration has faced criticism over the evacuations, particularly after the U.S. embassy in Jerusalem said it would be unable to help assist Americans in the country.
“American tax payers are forced to give Israel $3.8 BILLION every single year, and here is our own U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem telling Americans good luck getting out, you are on your own. The betrayal is unbelievable,” former Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Republican who represented Georgia, wrote on X.
Which Countries Are Under U.S. ‘Depart Now’ Warnings?
The State Department has urged Americans in 14 countries to immediately depart if possible: Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Yemen.
Airports in critical hubs like Dubai and Abu Dhabi have reportedly resumed limited flight operations after being closed for days amid the conflict. These airports serve as critical hubs for travel between Europe, Africa and Asia. Aviation analytics firm Cirium estimated that at least 90,000 people change flights daily through the Dubai, Doha and Abu Dhabi airports on just three airlines—Emirates, Qatar Airways and Etihad Airways—underscoring the scale of the disruption.
As evacuations continue, lawmakers in the U.S. Senate voted against a resolution that would have limited Trump’s power to continue the war in Iran without congressional authorization. The vote nearly fell along partisan lines, with one Republican voting in favor and one Democrat voting against. A similar bill is expected in the House of Representatives.
Update 3/5/26 12:30 p.m. ET: This article was updated with additional information.
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