US Embassy in Qatar and Bahrain orders lockdown for staff

The U.S. embassies in Qatar and Bahrain on Saturday ordered their personnel to shelter in place and called on their nationals to do the same, following the launch of Israeli and U.S. strikes against Iran. Both embassies said they had implemented “a shelter-in-place order for all their personnel.”

“We recommend that all Americans do the same until further notice,” they added in two separate statements, urging them to “seek a safe location in their homes or in another secure building.”

U.S. President Donald Trump said in a video message posted Saturday on his Truth Social platform that the United States had launched “major combat operations” against Iran. He also pledged to “destroy” the Islamic Republic’s missile capabilities and to “wipe out” its navy, asserting that the U.S. objective was to “eliminate imminent threats” posed by Tehran.

Israel’s Defense Ministry also announced Saturday morning that it had launched a “preemptive strike” on Iran, as air-raid sirens sounded in Jerusalem and residents across the country received phone alerts warning of an “extremely severe alert.”

“The State of Israel has launched a preemptive strike against Iran in order to eliminate threats against the State of Israel,” the Defense Ministry said in a statement. “As a result, a missile and drone attack against the State of Israel and its civilian population is expected in the immediate future,” the statement added, announcing the imposition of a “special and immediate state of emergency throughout the country.”