State Department Says Charter Flights Are Evacuating Hundreds of Americans Stranded in Middle East

The State Department is defending its efforts to evacuate Americans from the Middle East after claims it didn’t have advance plans and wasn’t moving fast enough.An assistant secretary of state, Dylan Johnson, says charter flights have already brought hundreds of Americans home and the State Department is continuing to surge aviation and ground transport options for Americans wishing to leave because of the war with Iran. He says additional flights will take place in the coming days as safe conditions allow them.Mr. Johnson posted photos on X on Friday of evacuees boarding flights back to America. One of the chartered planes is the same one used by the NFL’s New England Patriots team. A photo showed people walking up stairs onto a plane featuring the Patriots colors and logo on the side of it.“I was on one of those flights today and I can tell you the professionalism shown by the team executing our evacuation,” Avi Swerdlow said in an X post on Friday. “They were meticulous, kind, and respectful. And more importantly, they got us out secretly and safely. Every single person from the Embassy staff, to the consular DOS task force, to the security detail.”The Trump administration has faced criticism for mixed messaging since the attacks began. Americans in the region were first told to shelter in place. That was replaced with a message to attempt to get out of the region as soon as possible. But that word came after commercial air travel was disrupted across the region.Senator Chris Coons says his office has been getting urgent calls from people who are stuck in the Middle East.“The administration took months to assemble a third of our Navy in the region to plan for and prepare for a war with Iran,” Senator Chris Coons told reporters on Wednesday. “And I think a better job needed to be done about informing, preparing, relocating our diplomats, the families, the civilians on our bases and facilities.” Mr. Coons added that the evacuations are now underway but could have happened earlier.Mr. Johnson says nearly 24,000 American citizens have safely returned to the United States from the Middle East since the war started on February 28 with the State Department assisting nearly 13,000 of them.“These figures do not include the many Americans who have safely relocated to other countries or those who have departed the Middle East but are still in transit back to the United States,” Mr. Johnson said in an X post on Friday.Mr. Johnson says the State Department continues to “proactively call” Americans to offer charter flight or ground transport travel assistance. Commercial flight availability across the region continues to improve, he added.President Trump is praising the State’ Department’s evacuation efforts. “We are moving thousands of people out of various Countries throughout the Middle East,” Mr. Trump said in a Truth Social post on Friday. “It is being done quietly, but seamlessly. The State Department, under Secretary Marco Rubio, is doing a great job!”Not everyone was satisfied with the help being provided, however. Journalist and filmmaker Christina Paschyn said in an X post on Friday that she was told that nothing has been offered out of Doha, the capital of Qatar. “The state department hotline agent told us the chartered flight are not happening period, Ms. Paschyn said. “That it was misinformation.”Another person who said he is also stuck in Doha voiced criticism about the State Department response. “Showing only flights from Dubai is misinformation on how well the US government is actually doing to get citizens out,” Jeffery Stump said in an X post on Friday. “Dubai will be at 100% operations by end of the week. That is thanks to the UAE not US. The rest of us are stuck!”Americans in Oman, Kuwait, Bahrain, UAE, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Israel in need of travel assistance are being told to complete a Crisis Intake Form on the State Department’s MyTravelGov website to directly receive information about upcoming charter flights and ground transportation options.The State Department says it will continue to “actively assist” any American citizen who wishes to depart the Middle East.

State Department Says Charter Flights Are Evacuating Hundreds of Americans Stranded in Middle East

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