The U.S. ambassador to Israel confirmed that the U.S. Embassy is working to evacuate Americans from the country amid an Iran–Israel aerial conflict that has lasted more than five days.
Huckabee added that American citizens in the country must enroll in the Smart Traveler Enrollment Program to get travel alerts and updates.
It further noted that Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport and seaports are still closed but that land crossings into Jordan are still in operation.
While Iran has undertaken deadly missile strikes on Israeli cities, Israel’s warplanes have crisscrossed the Middle East, hitting Iranian nuclear installations and missile stockpiles and killing scientists and generals. Most of Iran’s military leadership has been taken out in Israeli strikes since June 13.
On June 16 and 17, several Israeli officials and U.S. President Donald Trump declared the establishment of air superiority over Iran.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on June 16 that Israel’s control of Iranian airspace was “a game-changer,” while a top adviser, Tzachi Hanegbi, said that Israeli pilots could operate “against countless more targets” over Tehran after air defense systems were destroyed.
Netanyahu did not rule out targeting Iranian leader Ali Khamenei, saying that doing so would end the conflict. On June 17, Trump wrote in a Truth Social post that Israel knows the location of the ayatollah and could strike him. He then suggested that Iran negotiate over its nuclear weapons program.
But Iran’s top leader said through state-run media and on social media that the country will not surrender. Other Iranian officials have signaled they will continue to work on the nuclear enrichment program. Israeli officials have said that they carried out the strikes because Iran was close to manufacturing nuclear weapons that threaten the existence of the Jewish state.
The Americans “should know that any U.S. military intervention will undoubtedly be accompanied by irreparable damage,” Khamenei said in a televised speech.
