Editor’s note: The Trump administration has updated its tools for Americans trying to evacuate the Middle East. Read the latest reporting from NOTUS.
The Trump administration told Americans trying to evacuate the Middle East that they cannot “rely” on U.S. government assistance, despite urging Americans to “depart now” from 16 countries in the region as the war with Iran continues to escalate.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio posted a video Tuesday morning telling stranded Americans that they can call a State Department hotline for assistance. Americans who called the hotline received the message that there is no guaranteed travel help available.
“Please do not rely on the U.S. government for assisted departure or evacuation. At this time, there are currently no United States evacuation points,” read an automated message on the hotline when NOTUS called the State Department number Tuesday afternoon.
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A person did eventually pick up the phone.
Two American citizens stuck in the United Arab Emirates told NOTUS that they called the hotline for help with travel plans and received none. Many more shared similar experiences in the replies to Rubio’s video online.
“They are absolutely disinterested, no sense of urgency,” James Blunt, a U.S. businessman who was stranded in the United Arab Emirates, told NOTUS.
When Blunt called the State Department hotline Monday after seeing the warning for urgent departure, the person on the other end repeatedly told him to register for a STEP account (a State-Department travel advisory program) but had no other assistance to offer.
By Tuesday afternoon, as pressure mounted for the administration to help with evacuations, the U.S. government said it was organizing travel for stranded Americans. Rubio emphasized registering with STEP as the government’s way to get in touch with Americans when travel opportunities become available.
“They have to register with us because as these options begin to open up and as they open up, we have to be able to call you and to reach you and to know where you are staying so that we can get this information to you and coordinate appropriately,” Rubio told reporters from the Capitol before a briefing on the war. “It will be a variety of methods, charter flights, military flights, transports, expanded commercial opportunities and in some cases land routes that will allow them to go to neighboring countries who might have open airports. It’s a lot of different things that need to happen in order to move people but it all starts by knowing that you’re there.”
The State Department issued a statement Tuesday afternoon that the agency was “facilitating charter flights from the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and Jordan for American citizens, and will continue to secure additional capacity as security conditions allow. Commercial aviation options remain available in Saudi Arabia, UAE, Oman, and Egypt, and the Department is actively helping American citizens book those tickets.”
NOTUS again called the State Department hotline after the department’s announcement that it was helping book travel, and the message telling Americans not to rely on the U.S. for travel assistance remained the same.
Airports in Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Syria, and Israel have been closed, and most major airlines in the region have stopped most flights. The UAE and Saudi Arabia are offering limited commercial flight options.
When a reporter asked President Donald Trump on Tuesday why Americans remained stranded in the region, he said: “Well, because it happened all very quickly.”
While the State Department hotline was unable to help most Americans on Monday and Tuesday, the Trump administration appeared to provide special assistance to political consultant and Trump advisor Alex Bruesewitz.
Bruesewitz was stranded in the region after conflict broke out, but secured an exit with help from White House Deputy Chief of Staff James Blair and US Ambassador to Greece Kimberly Guilfoyle, according to his post on X.
The State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The administration’s lack of immediate evacuation planning prompted outrage from Democrats.
Virginia Sen. Mark Warner’s office told NOTUS that his office had received requests for help from dozens of people in the UAE, Qatar, Iraq, and Israel.
“My office is receiving panicked calls from Americans stuck in the Middle East, outraged that our government has provided zero evacuation support,” New Jersey Sen. Andy Kim wrote on X Tuesday afternoon.
One person still stranded in the UAE with two other U.S. citizens as of Tuesday afternoon told NOTUS that she received no answer on the State Department hotline during two phone calls yesterday.
NOTUS reviewed an email from the U.S. embassy in the UAE that says: “Please continue to shelter in place if you are not able to depart.”
Blunt eventually managed to secure himself a commercial flight out of the region through one of the few airlines still operating flights, without the assistance of the U.S. government.
He said that he flew into the region in late January after reviewing State Department recommendations that did not caution against travel to the UAE.
The UAE government, not the U.S. government, eventually covered the cost of his hotel and taxi to the airport, he said.
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