Washington / Dubai / Beirut — The U.S. State Department has issued its most sweeping evacuation warning in decades, bluntly urging Americans to “GET OUT” of 14 Middle Eastern and North African countries as Iran vows open‑ended revenge on U.S. targets and their allies.

A rare region‑wide security alert orders non‑essential embassy staff and families to depart immediately from hotspots including Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Yemen, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait and parts of the Gulf, while urging private U.S. citizens to “leave now while commercial options remain.” Charter flights and military transports are already lifting off from Dubai, Amman and Riyadh packed with evacuees clutching passports and hastily packed bags.

The drastic move follows a surge in rocket, drone and missile attacks on U.S. bases, diplomatic compounds and hotels known to house Western contractors, all claimed by Iran or its aligned militias as “installments” of a broader revenge campaign. In Baghdad and Erbil, convoys of armored SUVs race between shuttered Green Zone entrances, while in Beirut and Sana’a, American flags have quietly come down from emptying compounds.

Tehran’s hardliners are reveling in the optics, calling the exodus “proof the American empire is retreating under fire.” U.S. officials counter that the pullout is temporary “risk management,” not surrender — but privately concede they cannot guarantee the safety of scattered citizens once Iran’s next wave of strikes begins.

As departure boards flicker with cancelled flights and embassy hotlines melt under desperate calls, one message is echoing from Washington to war rooms across the region: the Middle East is about to get even more dangerous — and Americans are being told to get out before it does.