Officials have warned that a US military strike on Iran can be expected within the next 24 hours, as Washington begins the evacuation of some military and civilian personnel from key bases across the Middle East.
The United States of America has begun withdrawing part of its soldiers and personnel from its military facilities in the region, at a time when tensions are rapidly escalating, following a warning from Tehran that American bases will be targeted if Donald Trump orders an attack on Iran.
A US official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the withdrawal of personnel was taken as a precaution due to heightened security concerns. At the same time, two European officials stated that American military intervention is now likely, with one of them estimating that it could happen within the next 24 hours.
And an Israeli official stated that it seems that US President Donald Trump has made a decision to intervene, although the exact time and scope of a possible strike are not yet known.
As Iran’s leadership tries to quell the most serious internal unrest the Islamic Republic has ever faced, Tehran is seeking to deflect President Trump’s repeated threats to intervene in support of anti-government demonstrators.
Qatar has announced that the withdrawal of personnel from Al Udeid Air Base, the largest US base in the region, is being carried out in response to current regional tensions.
The three diplomats said some personnel had been ordered to leave the base, but there were no immediate signs of a mass transfer of troops by bus to civilian facilities, as was the case hours before an Iranian missile attack last year.
President Trump has repeatedly threatened to intervene in support of demonstrators in Iran, where, according to reports, thousands of people have been killed during the suppression of protests against the clerical government.
Both Iran and its Western opponents have described the unrest – which began two weeks ago as demonstrations against dire economic conditions and has escalated sharply in recent days – as the most violent since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, which established Iran’s system of clerical rule.
According to an Iranian official, more than 2,000 people died, while an organization for the protection of human rights estimates that the number of victims is more than 2,600.
– Iran has never faced this scale of destruction – said on Wednesday the Chief of General Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces, Abdolrahim Mousavi, accusing foreign enemies of causing the crisis. French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barraud described the situation as “the most violent repression in Iran’s modern history.”
Iranian authorities have accused the United States and Israel of inciting the unrest, which they say is being carried out by armed terrorists.
