By Humeyra Pamuk
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Hundreds of American citizens have departed Iran using land routes over the past week since an aerial war between the Islamic Republic and Israel broke out, according to an internal State Department cable seen by Reuters on Friday.
While many left without problem, “numerous” citizens had faced “delays and harassment” while trying to exit, the cable said. It said, without giving further details, that one unidentified family had reported that two U.S. citizens attempting to leave Iran had been detained.
The internal cable dated June 20 underscores the challenge Washington is facing in trying to protect and assist its citizens in a country with which it has no diplomatic relations and in a war in which the United States may soon get involved.
The State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The cable was first reported by The Washington Post.
President Donald Trump and the White House said on Thursday he will decide in the next two weeks whether the U.S. will get involved in the Israel-Iran war. Trump has kept the world guessing on his plans, veering from proposing a swift diplomatic solution to suggesting Washington might join the fighting on Israel’s side.
The air war began on June 13 when Israel attacked Iran and has alarmed a region that has been on edge since the start of Israel’s war in Gaza in October 2023.
Israel is the only country in the Middle East widely believed to have nuclear weapons, and said it struck Iran to prevent Tehran from developing its own nuclear weapons.
Iran, which says its nuclear program is peaceful, has retaliated with its own strikes on Israel. Iran is a party to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, while Israel is not.
POTENTIAL EVACUATION
The U.S. State Department in a travel alert earlier on Friday urged its citizens wishing to depart Iran to use land routes via Azerbaijan, Armenia or Turkey. Iranian airspace is closed.
The U.S. Embassy in the Turkmenistan capital of Ashgabat has requested entry for over 100 American citizens, but the Turkmenistan government has yet to give its approval, the cable said.
The Islamic Republic treats Iranian-U.S. dual citizens solely as nationals of Iran, the State Department emphasized.
“U.S. nationals are at significant risk of questioning, arrest and detention in Iran,” the alert said.
Washington is looking at ways to potentially evacuate its citizens from Israel, but it has almost no way of assisting Americans inside Iran. The two countries have had no diplomatic ties since the Iranian Revolution in 1979.
U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee on Thursday said the administration was looking at different ways to get U.S. citizens out.
“We’re working to get military, commercial, charter flights and cruise ships for evac,” he said in an X post, urging U.S. citizens and green card holders to complete an online form.
As of Friday, more than 6,400 U.S. citizens filled out that form for Israel, a separate internal department email seen by Reuters said. The form allows the agency to predict an approximate figure for potential evacuations.
“Approximately 300-500 U.S. citizens per day would potentially require departure assistance,” said the internal email, also dated June 20 and marked “sensitive”.
The State Department does not have official figures but thousands of U.S. citizens are thought to be residing in Iran and hundreds of thousands in Israel.
Israel’s strikes over the last week have killed 639 people in Iran, according to the Human Rights Activists News Agency. Israel says Iranian attacks have killed 24 civilians in Israel.
“The U.S. Department of State received no reports of U.S. citizen casualties in Israel or Iran,” the second email said.
(Reporting by Humeyra Pamuk, Editing by Rosalba O’Brien)
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