We could soon see an attack from Israel against Iran, as CBS News is reporting, citing "multiple sources." This comes as, Stephen Green at our sister site of PJ Media reported earlier, the United States has been anticipating heightened tensions and the Trump administration, via Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has "authorized the voluntary departure of military dependents from locations across the Middle East."
According to CBS News, U.S. officials have been told Israel is now “fully ready” to launch an operation into Iran, with this being a primary reason for the announced evacuation of the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad and General Consulate in Erbil, as well as the departure of military… pic.twitter.com/YjGQBClFhv
— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) June 12, 2025
As the CBS News report mentioned:
U.S. officials have been told Israel is fully ready to launch an operation into Iran, multiple sources told CBS News.
The U.S. anticipates Iran could retaliate on certain American sites in neighboring Iraq. This is part of the reason the U.S. advised some Americans to leave the region earlier Wednesday, with the State Department ordering non-emergency government officials to exit Iraq due to "heightened regional tensions."
President Trump's Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff is still planning to meet with Iran for a sixth round of talks on the country's nuclear program in the coming days, two U.S. officials said.
Greene explained the authorizations more fully in his piece, though such a piece came earlier in the day and also later included an update:
"Authorized" in this case means that State or Defense will provide and pay for transportation, if requested. It isn't like an embassy spouse isn't allowed to travel without permission.
Another anonymous U.S. official told the Independent that the Pentagon is on alert to support any potential bugout: "The State Department is set to have an ordered departure for (the) U.S. embassy in Baghdad. The intent is to do it through commercial means, but the U.S. military is standing by if help is requested."
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So while today's news isn't the most comforting stuff you'll read today, pulling our people out of various Middle East embassies doesn't mean that war is about to break out — aside from the war in Gaza, the civil war in Yemen, whatever it is you want to call the situation in Syria, Turkey's war against various Kurdish groups, etc.
Come to think of it, it's almost a miracle we bother having embassy people in those places at all. If Trump could even the score with Soleimani by remote control, wouldn't it be a lot safer (and less expensive) to wage most of our Middle East diplomacy via Zoom calls?
I'm mostly kidding, of course, but it's no laughing matter to the families and staff constantly going on alert. Wash, rinse, evacuate — in the Middle East, the cycle never ends.
As for what President Donald Trump and his administration have to say, there's been reminders about what "a dangerous place" the Middle East can be.
President Donald Trump, who along with First Lady Melania Trump and Vice President JD Vance as well as Second Lady Usha Vance are at the Kennedy Center for the opening night of Les Misérables, did speak to the press about how Americans were advised to leave the region, "because it could be a dangerous place, and we'll see what happens." Trump, according to the report, also reiterated "we're not going to allow that" when it comes to Iran developing a nuclear weapon. Trump has been strongly against the idea since he started running for president.
The CBS News report did also note that "Israeli officials and White House spokespeople declined to comment."
If Israel were to strike Iran, this looks like it would reportedly be against Trump's wishes. "Trump tells Netanyahu to end Gaza war and stop Iran threats, source says, as US ramps up pressure on Israel," read a headline from CNN earlier on Wednesday.
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