Embassies on alert as Iran ramps up threats, U.S. elections loom

U.S. embassy officials were on heightened alert around the Middle East as new reports said Iran is in the “advanced stages” of planning attacks against Americans Friday.

A memo from Director of National Intelligence Jay Clayton said agencies received intelligence that Iran has “substantially increased efforts to target U.S. personnel” in the region, according to a New York Times report, and that the threats applied to “certain other countries” as well.

The warnings come after the U.S. ordered non-emergency government employees to leave Saudi Arabia this week, as attacks from the Iran-backed Houthis have worsened and the broader war between the U.S. and Tehran nears its eighth month.

The Saudi-led coalition fighting the Houthis said it destroyed two ballistic missiles fired by the group Saturday, aimed towards Taif and Yanbu.

Despite rising tensions, an Iranian official told The Associated Press on Saturday that Tehran remains open to talks with the U.S. under the former Pakistan-brokered deal that was agreed to in June. Reza Amiri Moghadam, Iran’s ambassador to Islamabad, said Iranian officials are prepared to reopen the Strait of Hormuz if the Trump administration lifts its naval blockade, AP reported, but he said Washington has rebuffed the proposal.

The Trump administration has vowed to put off military strikes on Iran after the midterm elections on Nov. 3, as the fallout from the war in Iran has caused a major disruption in the U.S. economy — with inflation and affordability the top concerns for voters who will decide control of Congress early next month.

Rising Middle East tensions sent oil prices soaring this week. Benchmark Brent crude futures topped $116 a barrel, a six-month high. U.S. West Texas Intermediate rose 3.8% to settle over $103 a barrel.