A drone strike set off a small fire at the United States Embassy in Saudi Arabia’s capital early Tuesday, as Iran’s retaliation for US and Israeli attacks spread across the Gulf and raised fears of a wider regional conflict.
Saudi officials said two drones struck the embassy compound in Riyadh’s Diplomatic Quarter, causing what they described as minor material damage. There were no casualties. The embassy building was empty at the time of the attack, according to sources cited by Reuters.
Black smoke was seen rising over the district, which houses several foreign missions. Witnesses told Reuters they heard a loud blast and saw flames at the site. Saudi Arabia’s defence ministry later said the fire was limited in scale. A source close to the Saudi military told AFP that air defences intercepted four drones targeting the area.
The strike marks a sharp escalation in a confrontation that began over the weekend after US and Israeli forces launched attacks on Iran. Tehran has since fired missiles and drones across the region, targeting countries that host American assets.
Donald Trump told NewsNation that Washington’s response to the embassy attack and the reported killing of several American service members would soon be made clear. “You will find out soon,” he said.
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The unrest has not been confined to Saudi Arabia. Oman’s state news agency reported that a fuel tank at the country’s Duqm commercial port was hit in a drone strike, causing limited material damage and no injuries.
In Bahrain, Iran’s powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said it had launched a large scale drone and missile attack on a US airbase in the Sheikh Isa area. In a statement carried by the official Islamic Republic News Agency, the force claimed 20 drones and three missiles were fired, destroying the base’s main command headquarters. It did not provide evidence for the claim.
The United States has not publicly confirmed the extent of the damage in Bahrain.
As tensions mount, Washington has begun pulling back staff from several countries. The US Department of State ordered non-emergency personnel to leave Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Jordan and Iraq as a precaution. A day earlier, Mora Namdar, the US assistant secretary of state for consular affairs, urged Americans in a dozen Middle Eastern countries to depart immediately by commercial flight.
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The US Embassy in Kuwait said it had closed indefinitely due to regional tensions. In Jerusalem, the US mission said it was unable to evacuate or directly assist Americans seeking to leave Israel.
Before the Riyadh strike, the US Embassy in Saudi Arabia issued a shelter-in-place notice for American citizens in Riyadh, Jeddah, and Dhahran. “We recommend American citizens in the Kingdom shelter in place immediately and avoid the Embassy until further notice due to an attack on the facility,” the mission said.
The developments, reported by Al Jazeera, Reuters, and AFP among others, point to a fast-moving and dangerous phase in the crisis. Gulf Arab states that host US military and diplomatic facilities now find themselves under direct pressure, as Iran signals it is prepared to strike beyond its borders in response to Washington and Israel.
For now, damage has been described as limited and casualties avoided.
