The U.S. departure order for Saudi Arabia coincided with separate reports of an attempted drone attack at an oil-field facility and explosions in Iran on Oct. 21. The reports did not establish a connection among the three events.
State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott said non-emergency U.S. government employees and their family members in Saudi Arabia had been told to leave. He said the order applied to Saudi Arabia only. Pigott cited Iranian-supported Houthi attacks on civilian airports and critical infrastructure, saying the hostilities had caused civilian casualties and severe travel disruptions.
The State Department’s Oct. 12 travel advisory assigned Saudi Arabia Level 3, “Reconsider travel.” It warned of possible drone and missile attacks by Iran and Iranian-supported Houthis, and noted that airports and energy facilities had been targeted.
Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Energy said air defenses intercepted a drone on the morning of Oct. 21 as it attempted to target a facility at Saudi Aramco’s Shaybah oil field. Debris started a fire in a contractor’s vehicle outside the facility perimeter, the ministry said. It attributed two deaths and two injuries to the attempted attack, identifying the dead as a Filipino and a Nepali and the injured as a Pakistani and an Indian. The ministry said oil-field operations were unaffected and did not identify who launched the drone. EconoTimes previously reported the Shaybah incident.
Separately, Iran’s state news agency IRNA reported explosions heard on the night of Oct. 21 in Karpan, in Sirik, Hormozgan province. IRNA said local sources had not disclosed the explosions’ nature. Anadolu Agency reported that casualty and damage details were not immediately available.
