Iranian plots to kill Americans have reached ‘advanced stages’

Washington is quietly reducing personnel at its embassies in Jordan, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Lebanon.

By Vered Weiss, World Israel News

U.S. intelligence has concluded that Iran has “substantially increased” efforts to target American personnel abroad, with plots to kill U.S. citizens reaching “advanced stages” in the Middle East and other countries, according to an intelligence memo obtained by Fox News.

Jay Clayton, the director of national intelligence, summarized the assessment in a brief memo Friday to Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

“Specifically, through various channels, we have received intelligence that Iran has substantially increased efforts to target U.S. personnel,” the memo states.

“The lethal plotting efforts by the Iranians against U.S. citizens have reached advanced stages in both the Middle East and certain other countries.”

Intelligence officials will also seek to downgrade the classification of some intelligence so the information can be distributed and shared with State Department personnel, according to the memo.

A U.S. official told Fox News Digital that the government continually monitors and assesses changing security threats.

“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.”

CNN separately reported that Washington is accelerating the evacuation of some diplomatic personnel and their families from missions across the Middle East because of concerns about a regional escalation.

Non-essential staff and their families in Saudi Arabia are covered by an official evacuation order, according to CNN.

Washington is also quietly reducing personnel at its embassies in Jordan, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Lebanon.

The staffing changes come amid increasing Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia and the possibility that Trump will resume strikes on Iran after the midterm elections, CNN reported.

State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott, however, rejected reports suggesting that a wider regional shutdown could be forthcoming, saying such claims were “inaccurate.”