The US State Department announced on Wednesday an ordered departure for non-essential American government employees and their families from Saudi Arabia. Spokesman Tommy Pigott wrote on X that the measure applies to Saudi Arabia only — the embassy in Riyadh and consulates in the kingdom. It is not an embassy closure and it is not an evacuation of all American citizens.

AFP had reported, from a diplomatic source, that all American staff at the embassy were being pulled out and that families would also leave the UAE, Jordan, Qatar and Bahrain. Pigott said that account was inaccurate. CBS noted that other Gulf missions had gone onto “restricted operations”, a reduced-staffing status, without an ordered departure.

Pigott tied the decision to Houthi attacks on civilian airports and infrastructure in Saudi Arabia, with casualties and travel disruption. Saudi Arabia’s energy ministry said on Wednesday that debris from an intercepted drone aimed at the Shaybah oil field had killed two people — a Filipino and a Nepali — and injured two others. The ministry did not attribute the launch. The Saudi-led coalition said it had intercepted six drones.

CBS reported that an attack earlier this month on Riyadh’s King Khalid airport killed 12 people and injured more than 300, including one American. Other American embassies in the region asked people, over the weekend, to be careful and to prepare for travel disruption. That does not close the mission in Riyadh.

Washington had already pulled non-essential staff from the Gulf before the war with Iran, which began in late February, and again in July. Al-Monitor, on an AFP wire, also noted explosions heard late on Wednesday in Hormozgan, on the Strait of Hormuz; IRNA said their nature was not confirmed. That is not the cause of the Riyadh order.

Donald Trump said, after the airport attack, that the United States “may” strike the Houthis. That is a remark, not an attack order published on Wednesday. The departure order remains a diplomatic staffing measure, not a break in relations and not an embassy shutdown.

Image: Linda D. Epstein, State Department Harry S. Truman Building, Washington, 24 April 2024, public domain, Wikimedia Commons; the building in 2024, not Wednesday announcement.

Sources consulted: Washington orders US embassy staff, families to leave Saudi Arabia - Al-Monitor / AFP, 21 October 2026; U.S. ordering some government staff to depart Saudi Arabia as concerns about Houthis flare - CBS News, 21 October 2026.