Israel is considering taking military action against Iran, most likely without US support, in the coming days, five sources told NBC on Thursday.
This comes shortly after a CBS report in which multiple sources stated that Israel has told US officials that it is "fully ready to launch an operation into Iran."
Iran's military has begun drills earlier than planned to focus on "enemy movements," state media reported later on Thursday afternoon.
A "friendly" regional country alerted Tehran over a potential military strike, a senior Iranian official told Reuters on Thursday, adding that Iran will not abandon its right to uranium enrichment because of mounting frictions in the region.
The official said the tensions were intended to "influence Tehran to change its position about its nuclear rights" during talks with the United States on Sunday in Muscat, which were confirmed to be taking place by the Omani Foreign Minister on Thursday morning.
The Pentagon also green-lit the departure of military family members across the Middle East.
US military dependents leaving the region does not constitute a threat, a senior Iranian security official told Iran's Press TV on Thursday, in response to the news.
The US Embassy in Baghdad advised American citizens on Thursday against traveling to Iraq, Reuters reported.
Iraq says its intelligence and field reports show no threats to diplomatic missions, the state news agency reported.
The US Embassy in Bahrain on Thursday denied reports that it was evacuating personnel, adding that staffing and operations remain unchanged and activities continue as normal.
US President Donald Trump addressed the situation on his way to the Kennedy Center, telling a reporter who asked why dependents of US military personnel are being authorized to leave the Middle East, "You'll have to see, thank you."
"[US personnel in the Middle East] are being moved out. It could be a dangerous place. We'll see what happens. Iran can not have a nuclear weapon. We won't allow it," he later stated
Trump previously expressed his lack of hope of achieving a deal. “I’m less confident now than I would have been a couple of months ago. Something happened to them, but I am much less confident of a deal being made,” Trump told The New York Post.
Tensions in the Middle East have also led to CENTCOM head US Army General Michael "Erik" Kurilla postponing the testimony he was set to give in front of the Senate Armed Services Committee on Thursday, Reuters reported.
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