Iran has sharply stepped up efforts to target American officials, with some lethal plots now at an advanced stage, the top US intelligence official has warned Secretary of State Marco Rubio, as Washington pulls diplomats out of Saudi Arabia and trims staff at several other embassies in the region, IANS reported.

Source: IANS via BizzBuzz, Oct 24, 2026

In a one-page unclassified memo dated October 23, Director of National Intelligence Jay Clayton told Rubio that Iran had “substantially increased efforts to target U.S. personnel”, Axios reported, citing the document. The memo, copied to CIA Director John Ratcliffe, said lethal plots had “reached advanced stages in both the Middle East and certain other countries”, according to Axios's Barak Ravid, who first reported it. The memo did not name targets, the countries outside the Middle East or the nature of the plots, according to the report.

Source: Axios via IANS/BizzBuzz, Oct 24, 2026

A US official confirmed the memo to IANS. “When it comes to our staffing at embassies, we constantly evaluate new information about the security environment,” the official said. “The threat of Houthi attacks and of Iranian terror plots targeting U.S. officials are informing our decisions on staffing adjustments for embassies on RO Status in the region.”

Source: US official to IANS via BizzBuzz, Oct 24, 2026

Earlier this week, the State Department ordered the departure of non-emergency staff from the US Embassy in Riyadh and the consulates in Jeddah and Dhahran. On Friday, staff reductions followed at the US embassies in the UAE, Lebanon, Qatar and Jordan, IANS reported. CNN, as cited by the Jerusalem Post, reported that cuts also extend to Bahrain and Kuwait, with diplomats describing the process as “chaotic”.

Source: IANS via BizzBuzz; CNN via JBizNews, Oct 24, 2026

State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott said on X that the ordered departure applied to “Saudi Arabia only”, pointing to attacks by the Iran-aligned Houthis on civilian airports and other critical infrastructure in the kingdom. The formal ordered departure and the wider reported staffing reductions are separate measures, and ANI reported that US officials also fear the Houthis could expand their attacks beyond Saudi Arabia to other countries in the region.

Source: State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott on X, via ANI/Latestly, Oct 24, 2026

Iran had not publicly responded to the Axios report in the coverage available when this story was published. For the lakhs of Indian and Punjabi workers living across the Gulf, a US embassy drawdown is one of the most closely watched signals of how serious Washington judges the risk of a wider regional escalation to be.

Source: IANS via BizzBuzz, Oct 24, 2026