Hundreds of U.S. citizens left Iran in last week, State Department cable says
Hundreds of American citizens have departed Iran using land routes over the past week since an aerial war between the Islamic Republic and Israel broke out, according to an internal State Department cable seen by Reuters on Friday.
While many left without problem, "numerous" citizens had faced "delays and harassment" while trying to exit, the cable said. It said, without giving further details, that one unidentified family had reported that two U.S. citizens attempting to leave Iran had been detained.
The internal cable dated June 20 underscores the challenge Washington is facing in trying to protect and assist its citizens in a country with which it has no diplomatic relations and in a war in which the United States may soon get involved.
The State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The cable was first reported by The Washington Post.
U.S. President Donald Trump and the White House said on Thursday he will decide in the next two weeks whether the U.S. will get involved in the Israel-Iran war. Trump has kept the world guessing on his plans, veering from proposing a swift diplomatic solution to suggesting Washington might join the fighting on Israel's side.
The air war began on June 13 when Israel attacked Iran and has alarmed a region that has been on edge since the start of Israel's war in Gaza in October 2023.
Israel is the only country in the Middle East widely believed to have nuclear weapons, and said it struck Iran to prevent Tehran from developing its own nuclear weapons.
Iran, which says its nuclear program is peaceful, has retaliated with its own strikes on Israel. Iran is a party to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, while Israel is not.
The U.S. State Department in a travel alert earlier on Friday urged its citizens wishing to depart Iran to use land routes via Azerbaijan, Armenia or Turkey. Iranian airspace is closed.
The U.S. Embassy in the Turkmenistan capital of Ashgabat has requested entry for over 100 American citizens, but the Turkmenistan government has yet to give its approval, the cable said.
The Islamic Republic treats Iranian-U.S. dual citizens solely as nationals of Iran, the State Department emphasized.
"U.S. nationals are at significant risk of questioning, arrest and detention in Iran," the alert said.
Washington is looking at ways to potentially evacuate its citizens from Israel, but it has almost no way of assisting Americans inside Iran. The two countries have had no diplomatic ties since the Iranian Revolution in 1979.
U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee on Thursday said the administration was looking at different ways to get U.S. citizens out.
"We're working to get military, commercial, charter flights and cruise ships for evac," he said in an X post, urging U.S. citizens and green card holders to complete an online form.
As of Friday, more than 6,400 U.S. citizens filled out that form for Israel, a separate internal department email seen by Reuters said. The form allows the agency to predict an approximate figure for potential evacuations.
"Approximately 300-500 U.S. citizens per day would potentially require departure assistance," said the internal email, also dated June 20 and marked "sensitive."
The State Department does not have official figures but thousands of U.S. citizens are thought to be residing in Iran and hundreds of thousands in Israel.
Israel's strikes over the last week have killed 639 people in Iran, according to the Human Rights Activists News Agency. Israel says Iranian attacks have killed 24 civilians in Israel.
"The U.S. Department of State received no reports of U.S. citizen casualties in Israel or Iran," the second email said.
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The Mainichi
3 hours ago
- The Mainichi
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Yomiuri Shimbun
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- Yomiuri Shimbun
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Yomiuri Shimbun
6 hours ago
- Yomiuri Shimbun
What's in Trump and Senate Republicans' Tax and Immigration Bill?
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Extend the 2017 Trump tax cuts Trump's 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act cut taxes for individuals of nearly all income levels, concentrating most of the benefits among the wealthiest earners and corporations. The business tax cuts are permanent, but the individual portions expire at the end of the year. So if Congress doesn't act, tax rates will go up on most households. The Republican bill would permanently extend the lower rates for individuals. Increase the standard deduction The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act doubled the standard deduction, which is the baseline amount of income filers can collect tax-free. This legislation would preserve that policy and add to it, increasing the deduction by up to $2,000 for married couples filing jointly and $1,000 for single filers, to $32,000 for couples and $16,000 for individuals. Cuts to Medicaid To meet budget goals, Republicans are making deep cuts and instituting eligibility restrictions on Medicaid, the federal health insurance program for low-income individuals and people with disabilities. The Senate implements work requirements and new cost-sharing structures and puts strict limits on Medicaid provider taxes, duties that states charge medical providers as a roundabout way of collecting more federal Medicaid dollars. Some in the GOP wish to use that policy to force states to jettison immigrants from benefits rolls. Rural hospital bailout fund To soften the blow of the provider tax limitations, the Senate created a $25 billion fund to stabilize rural hospitals and health clinics. The fund would begin in 2028 when the new provider tax policies begin, and sunset in 2032. A little SALT The bill quadruples the cap on the state and local tax deduction, or SALT, which lets filers write off the amount they paid in local taxes from their federal tax bill. But that increase would only last a little while. After five years, the SALT cap would snap back down to $10,000. Making states pay for SNAP The legislation would cap future expansion of SNAP, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program formerly known as food stamps. It would also pass on more of the cost for administering the program to state governments, potentially forcing local officials to decide whether to cut benefits or dig into their state and municipal budgets. States with higher rates of improper payments would be required to shoulder up to 15 percent of benefits costs. Today, states and the federal government split the costs of running SNAP's operations evenly. Beginning in 2027, the federal government would only cover a quarter of the cost. Increase the child tax credit – for some The child tax credit is a tax break for filers with children. The Republican measure would increase the credit to $2,200 per child, from $2,000, then would link it to inflation. But not every family can qualify: The legislation limits eligibility to parents or guardians with Social Security numbers, essentially requiring claimants to be citizens or immigrants who have obtained valid Social Security numbers. That would mostly exclude noncitizen parents from claiming the credit on behalf of a child who is a citizen. A border wall, other barriers and immigration restrictions The Senate version designates nearly $85 billion for the Trump administration's border and immigration crackdown. That is about half of what the House proposed for border and immigration funding. The Senate would spend $6.5 billion to complete the wall along the U.S.-Mexico border and other fortifications, including at maritime crossings. More than $54 billion would go to building and maintaining detention centers to house and transport families of deportees. New taxes on colleges and universities The legislation aggressively taxes income generated by the endowments of colleges and universities. Current law imposes a 1.4 percent tax on those institutions. This bill creates a new system that would set varying tax rates depending on the size of the endowment per enrolled student: Savings accounts for newborns The proposal would give newborn babies a $1,000 savings account that the legislation calls a 'Trump account.' (A previous version dubbed them 'money account for growth and advancement,' or a MAGA account.) Parents or beneficiaries could contribute $5,000 each year to that account until the beneficiary is 31 years old. The idea mirrors a pitch from Democratic Sen. Cory Booker (New Jersey) for 'baby bonds.' No tax on tips Trump campaigned heavily on ending taxes on tips, and now that policy is in the bill. The legislation would allow a tax deduction for the total amount of tipped income received. It contains some guardrails to prevent 'highly compensated employees' from claiming their earnings as tips and specifically identifies food service, hair care, nail care, aesthetics, and body and spa treatments as professions eligible to receive the deduction. No tax on overtime Another of Trump's campaign promises, this provision would exempt overtime wages from taxes through a new deduction. The legislation wouldn't allow deduction of overtime wages from tips or for 'highly compensated employees,' and requires filers to use a Social Security number when claiming the deduction, deeming most undocumented immigrants ineligible. No tax on car loan interest The bill would allow purchasers of American-made cars to deduct up to $10,000 in car loan interest payments for four years – an idea Trump talked about on the campaign trail and then returned to as his tariffs began to bite the auto industry. For tax filers earning more than $100,000 (or $200,000 for married couples filing jointly), the loan interest deduction would phase out by $200 for every $1,000 of additional income. A bonus deduction for seniors Trump promised last year to end taxes on Social Security benefits. The bill doesn't include that provision, but it would add an extra $6,000 to the standard deduction for people over 65 years old. The policy would taper off as a recipient's income increased. Billions for defense, including Trump's 'Golden Dome' There is roughly $158 billion in the bill for the Defense Department, spread over several priorities: $25 billion for the munition and defense supply chain, $329 billion for shipbuilding, and $34 billion for missile defense and space capabilities – that's partially for Trump's 'Golden Dome' continental missile defense system. Sell federal land The bill would require the Bureau of Land Management to sell between a quarter and half a percent of the agency's land holdings to build new housing. It specifically exempts national parks, national monuments, national recreation areas, wilderness areas, other wildlands and contracted grazing areas. Repeal Biden student loan forgiveness The legislation would save $320 billion over 10 years by repealing the Biden administration's student loan forgiveness program and making other changes to loan repayments. Tax credits for home schooling or private school The bill includes up to $4 billion per year in tax credits that benefit people who donate to organizations that help families pay for private-school tuition or home schooling. It would create a 100 percent tax credit for donations to scholarship-granting organizations, with taxpayers fully reimbursed for their donations when they file their taxes. Rescind money to fight climate change The proposal would gut elements of Biden's signature 2022 climate law, the Inflation Reduction Act. It would eliminate a federal tax credit of up to $7,500 that consumers can receive for buying an electric vehicle. Republicans would also quickly phase out incentives for the production of clean energy, such as wind and solar power. New oil, gas and coal production The Natural Resources Committee would require the federal government to immediately begin selling leases for oil and gas drilling in the Gulf of Mexico and in protected Alaskan wildlands. It would also force the Interior Department to approve more coal production and reduce regulations to make it cheaper to extract. Auction the spectrum The electromagnetic spectrum is necessary for everything from wireless technologies to military communications and radars. The legislation would renew the Federal Communications Commission's authority to auction off bands of spectrum that the Commerce, Science and Transportation says could raise $85 billion over 10 years. Cut protections for federal workers The legislation would require an audit of dependents of federal employees on government health insurance plans. Earlier editions of the measure would have forced new federal employees to choose between accepting an at-will classification that would make it easier to be fired or putting more of their salary toward retirement, and recalculated worker retirement benefits. Those provisions were removed. Raise the debt ceiling The debt ceiling sets the amount of money the federal government can borrow to pay for expenses already incurred. The government technically eclipsed the limit at the end of 2024, but the Treasury Department is taking 'extraordinary measures' to put off the need to take on more debt. But those measures will expire sometime in August. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Friday refused to answer questions on an exact date, a break from previous administrations. The Senate bill would raise the debt limit by $5 trillion.
