Suspected Iranian Drone Strikes Near U.S. Consulate in Dubai
A suspected Iranian drone struck the parking lot of the U.S. consulate in Dubai, causing a fire that sent plumes of black smoke rising into the air, U.S. officials said Tuesday.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said all personnel were accounted for after the strike, which came amid a barrage of missile and drone attacks Iran has launched in recent days in retaliation for the massive U.S.-Israeli military campaign that killed Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
[time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”]“A drone, unfortunately, struck a parking lot adjacent to the chancellery building and set off a fire in that place,” Rubio told reporters Tuesday afternoon. He said that the U.S. had been pulling back personnel to the “bare bones” amid the expanding retaliatory strikes from Iran.
“So, we’ve been very fortunate, obviously, but our embassies and our diplomatic facilities are under direct attack from a terroristic regime,” Rubio added.
The Dubai government’s Media Office stated on social media that the fire resulting from a “drone-related incident” near the consulate had been “successfully contained” and later extinguished. No injuries have been reported, the office said.
Iran escalates attacks on Gulf countries
The U.S. embassy in Riyadh was hit in another suspected Iranian drone attack earlier Tuesday. Amid the ongoing war, the State Department has indefinitely closed embassies in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Lebanon, shut down at least one consulate, and advised Americans to immediately leave 14 countries across the Middle East “due to serious safety risks,” even as the conflict has closed airspace throughout the region and stranded travelers.
Six American service members have been killed in the war since it began in the early hours of Saturday. Iranian state media has reported that the Iranian death toll has reached at least 780. TIME is unable to independently verify those figures.
Read More: ‘It’s As If I’m Dreaming’: Iranians Recount the First Day of the War, and the Death of Khamenei
Secretary Rubio and the State Department “urges Americans to DEPART NOW” from countries including Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Syria, the UAE and Qatar “using available commercial transportation, due to serious safety risks,” Assistant Secretary of State Mora Namdar wrote in a post on X Monday.
Assistant Secretary of State for Global Public Affairs Dylan Johnson also wrote on X that the State Department “is actively securing military aircraft and charter flights for American citizens who wish to leave the Middle East,” and is in contact with at least 3,000 Americans abroad. During the press conference on Tuesday, Rubio said that 9,000 Americans have left the Middle East since the start of the conflict.
Yet, Democrat Sen. Andy Kim said Tuesday that his office is “receiving panicked calls from Americans stuck in the Middle East, outraged that our government has provided zero evacuation support.”
“Warnings to citizens to evacuate 3 days into this war, when airspace is closed, is a clear sign of ZERO strategy and planning by the Trump admin,” Kim said in another post on X.