{"id":228622,"date":"2026-10-25T00:51:08","date_gmt":"2026-10-25T00:51:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/iranian-plots-to-kill-u-s-officials-in-middle-east-have-reached-advanced-stages-intel-memo-warns-nbc-news\/"},"modified":"2026-10-25T00:51:08","modified_gmt":"2026-10-25T00:51:08","slug":"iranian-plots-to-kill-u-s-officials-in-middle-east-have-reached-advanced-stages-intel-memo-warns-nbc-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/iranian-plots-to-kill-u-s-officials-in-middle-east-have-reached-advanced-stages-intel-memo-warns-nbc-news\/","title":{"rendered":"Iranian plots to kill U.S. officials in Middle East have reached \u2018advanced stages,\u2019 intel memo warns – NBC News"},"content":{"rendered":"

For You
Settings
news Alerts
There are no new alerts at this time
Iran has increased efforts to target U.S. personnel in the Middle East and other countries, according to a memo sent by the Director of National Intelligence Jay Clayton to Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Friday.
The memo warned that \u201cthe lethal plotting efforts by the Iranians against U.S. citizens have reached advanced stages.\u201d
A U.S. official confirmed the authenticity of the memo first reported by Axios<\/a>.
The intelligence comes days after sources told NBC News the U.S. military <\/a>has been quietly scaling back its troop presence at bases across the Middle <\/a>East<\/a>. The State Department ordered a further reduction in staff at multiple diplomatic posts in the region, including in Lebanon, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Jordan, according to a State Department official.
Those posts have already been placed on a \u201crestricted operations\u201d status and have been functioning with limited staffing since the start of the war.
Clayton told Rubio in the memo that the risk is \u201crelevant to more individuals than are currently cleared to receive this information,\u201d adding: \u201cWe will make every effort to downgrade as much intelligence as possible so you can share it with State Department personnel at your discretion.\u201d
The reduction of American forces and diplomatic personnel is similar to drawdowns at bases and embassies that the Defense Department and the State Department initiated around the start of the war with Iran in February.
\u201cWhen it comes to our staffing at embassies, we constantly evaluate new information about the security environment,\u201d a U.S. official said. \u201cThe threat of Houthi attacks and of Iranian terror plots targeting U.S. officials are informing our decisions on staffing adjustments for embassies on Restricted Status in the region.\u201d
President Donald Trump said this week that he was considering another operation against Iran, after months of strikes on shipping in the Strait of Hormuz and limited progress toward a long-term ceasefire.
\u201cWe may do another little Epic Fury,\u201d he told a rally in Florida on Friday, referring to the U.S. name for the initial wave of strikes. \u201cIf they\u2019re smart, they\u2019ll just say, let\u2019s get down to business,\u201d he added.
His comment came after senior U.S. military officials presented Trump with options<\/a> for new strikes in Iran.
Among the military options presented to Trump in recent weeks are major strikes against the tunnels or entrances of Iran\u2019s nuclear facilities, such as at Pickaxe Mountain<\/a>, or against its strategic islands<\/a>, according to one of the U.S. officials and a former U.S. official with knowledge of the options.
They said some of the options include targeting Kharg Island<\/a> \u2014 which is home to the vast majority of Iran\u2019s oil production, making it an economic lifeline for the country \u2014 and Qeshm in the Strait of Hormuz<\/a>.
Iran had proposed a fresh deal last month<\/a> to reopen the Strait of Hormuz within days. Trump publicly rejected that proposal<\/a> without giving a specific reason, saying Iran wanted a deal \u201cbecause they\u2019re losing so badly.\u201d He also accused Iran of seeking to drive up oil prices ahead of the midterm elections.
\u201cWe don\u2019t care about U.S. midterm elections,\u201d Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said.<\/a> \u201cWe care about our national interests.\u201d
On Wednesday, the chiefs of mission at multiple U.S. diplomatic posts in the Middle East were notified that their posts would begin operating with reduced staff, the two U.S. officials said. The State Department also announced Wednesday that the U.S. Embassy in Saudi Arabia is under \u201cordered departure,\u201d meaning it will operate only with emergency staff.
\u201cThe safety and security of Department personnel and their families remain our highest priority, and we will continue to take all necessary steps to protect and support them,\u201d State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott wrote on X<\/a>.
Abigail Williams is a producer and reporter for NBC News covering the State Department.
Freddie Clayton is a freelance journalist based in London.\u00a0
© 2026 NBCUniversal Media, LLC<\/p>\n

source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For YouSettings news AlertsThere are no new alerts at this timeIran has increased efforts to target U.S. personnel in the Middle East and other countries, according to a memo sent by the Director of National Intelligence Jay Clayton to Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Friday.The memo warned that \u201cthe lethal plotting efforts by the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":228623,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-228622","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-world","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228622","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=228622"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228622\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/228623"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=228622"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=228622"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=228622"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}