The United States Cannot Guarantee An Impasse To Its Stranded Citizens.

Jerusalem; March 2026: The US Embassy in Jerusalem has notified its citizens in Israel that it is “not in a position” to help them evacuate the country. In a security alert posted online, the embassy provides information on shuttle buses that Israel’s Ministry of Tourism is operating to the Taba border crossing with Egypt.

“If you choose to avail yourself of this option to depart, the U.S. government cannot guarantee your safety. The information is provided as a courtesy to those wishing to leave Israel”, the embassy said.

The embassy also informs US citizens that to be included on the buses travelling to the Egyptian border, they must register with the tourism ministry via its “evacuation form”.

In a separate development, the US embassy in Kuwait has suspended operations until further notice, citing the “ongoing regional tensions. We have cancelled all regular and emergency consular appointments. We will communicate when the embassy returns to normal operations”, it said.

The closure follows days of mounting casualties and military incidents, with 06 US troops killed and 03 US fighter jets crashing in Kuwait in what the US military described as an “apparent friendly fire incident”.

Meanwhile, Henry Ensher, former US ambassador and deputy assistance secretary of state, said the rhetoric emerging from Washington DC that there was a “need to strike Iran because Israel was going to do so”, will feed public opinion that US foreign policy is beholden to “what Israel wants. Some people would go so far as to say that Israel is leading our Middle East policy”, Ensher said.

Rhetoric from US officials as to the rationale for striking Iran will “play into those suspicions here and have some effect”, he said, adding that Washington is likely to change that narrative. “I suspect we will see the administration talking more about the US national interests and why it was necessary to act on the basis of those interests, going forward”, Ensher said. “We are in a wider regional war already”, he added.

Democratic Members of US Congress have criticised the claims made by the Trump administration the strikes on Iran were justified because of the threat posed by Tehran to Washington, saying any threat posed was to Israel.

Mark Warner, a Democratic senator from Virginia and vice-chair of the select committee on intelligence, told reporters after a briefing there was “no imminent threat to the United States of America by the Iranians. There was a threat to Israel. If we equate a threat to Israel as the equivalent of an imminent threat to the United States, then we are in uncharted territory”, he said.

Joaquin Castro, a House Representative from Texas, criticised remarks from Secretary of State Marco Rubio that “it was abundantly clear that if Iran came under attack by, the United States or Israel or anyone, they were going to respond against the United States. Secretary Rubio’s remarks indicate that Israel put US forces in harm’s way by insisting on attacking Iran, and the administration was complicit in joining their war instead of talking them down”, Castro has lambasted. He continued: “This is unacceptable of the President, and unacceptable of a country that calls itself our ally”.

President Donald Trump while campaigning for re-election in 2024, had assured that he would not be starting any new wars, and that he certainly was not interested in being entangled in any new conflicts in the Middle East. And yet for the second time in less than a year there have been these massive air strikes on Iranian targets, this time including deployment of tens of thousands of US forces in the region.

This is a question that the president is going to have to make to the US public. New polling indicates that the majority of US people disapprove of going to war against Iran. There has not been the very public buildup of an argument for why US forces have been deployed. Certainly, now with the loss of 06 US members of the military, there has not been an explanation of why they are being asked to put their lives on the line. This could turn into a big political problem for the US president if more explanations are not forthcoming as quickly as possible.

Suvro Sanyal – Team Maverick.