American embassies tighten security as Iran threat warnings intensify ahead of U.S. midterm elections

Key points

• U.S. embassies in the Middle East were on heightened alert after reports said Iran is in the "advanced stages" of planning attacks against Americans.
• The U.S. ordered non-emergency government employees to leave Saudi Arabia this week as Iran-backed Houthi attacks worsened.
• Brent crude topped $116 a barrel, a six-month high, as Middle East tensions pushed oil prices up.

U.S. embassy officials across the Middle East were on heightened alert Friday after new reports said Iran is in the "advanced stages" of planning attacks against Americans. A memo from Director of National Intelligence Jay Clayton said agencies had intelligence that Iran has "substantially increased efforts to target U.S. personnel" in the region, according to a New York Times report. The memo said the threats also applied to "certain other countries."

The warnings followed the U.S. order this week for non-emergency government employees to leave Saudi Arabia, as attacks from the Iran-backed Houthis worsened and the war between the U.S. and Tehran approached its eighth month.

Missiles destroyed and talks proposed

The Saudi-led coalition fighting the Houthis said it destroyed two ballistic missiles fired by the group toward Taif and Yanbu. An Iranian official told The Associated Press on Saturday that Tehran remains open to talks with the U.S. under the Pakistan-brokered deal agreed 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, but he said Washington had rebuffed the proposal. Iranian state media later denied the report.

substantially increased efforts to target U.S. personnel

— Director of National Intelligence Jay Clayton, in a memo

Oil prices and election timing

The Trump administration has vowed to hold off military strikes on Iran until after the midterm elections on Nov. 3. The war has caused major disruption to the U.S. economy, with inflation and affordability the top concerns for voters deciding 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, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate rose 3.8% to settle over $103 a barrel.