U.S. intelligence has warned that Iran has significantly escalated efforts to assassinate American diplomats and government officials overseas, with some plots reaching advanced stages, according to a memo obtained by Axios.
The warning, contained in a memorandum to U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, comes as the Trump administration has reduced staff at several American embassies across the Middle East amid fears of Iranian retaliation and a possible resumption of major U.S. military operations against Tehran.
The one-page, unclassified memo says intelligence agencies have identified a substantial increase in Iranian efforts to target U.S. personnel in the Middle East and elsewhere, Axios reported.
The memo does not identify specific assassination targets, countries outside the Middle East where attacks might occur or details of the suspected plots. It says senior State Department officials have already received the underlying intelligence.
Earlier this week, the department ordered family members and nonessential personnel to leave the U.S. Embassy in Riyadh and American consulates in Jeddah and Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. On Friday, the department ordered reductions in diplomatic and government personnel at embassies in the UAE, Lebanon, Qatar and Jordan.
American officials are also concerned that Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen could expand their attacks beyond Saudi Arabia to other countries in the region, further threatening U.S. personnel and facilities.
