American citizens: Trump had no plan B for his exit after the attack on Iran

Americans criticize the US State Department, with report of person who felt “betrayed” and treated as “an afterthought”

American citizens living in the Middle East say they are “furious” with the US State Department, criticizing the Trump administration for not having a “plan B” to help them leave the region in the hours and days following the start of the US-Israeli war against Iran.

One person, whose family voted for Trump because of his anti-war stance, said they felt “betrayed” and that the treatment of American citizens was treated as “an afterthought.”

A State Department official said: “Through the department’s Task Force, we directly provided safety guidance and travel assistance to approximately 32,000 affected Americans. The majority of Americans who requested assistance declined the offered seats, opting instead to remain in the country or take commercial flights.”

Here are some of the people who shared their experiences.

‘We were left to our own devices to sort things out’

Dylan, 31, an American citizen who taught in Bahrain, says he is “furious” at the American government’s lack of support for its citizens in the Middle East.

On the morning of the joint US-Israeli attack on Iran on February 28, he said he had a feeling something was about to happen.

“I was tense and checking the news all the time,” he says. “Around 11 a.m., I heard a loud bang that shook the house. I thought it was an elevator collapsing. Then I heard four more. I looked outside and saw smoke rising from the naval base in Juffair. Once I saw the smoke, it was like I was looking death in the face, and I knew I needed to do something immediately.”

In his first year of a two-year teaching contract, Dylan packed up a few things and spent the next few days sheltering in place at a school.

He says he called the embassy and heard a recording stating that the voicemail was full. He also called the US State Department, but was unable to reach them. So he asked his family to try calling the next day, but no one could reach anyone. Dylan tried again, without success.

In the United States, his parents were very anxious and managed to put him in touch with an aide to an American congressman who “was helping to track flights and providing security information.”

“I shouldn’t have needed the luck of my father to somehow have a connection to a lawmaker,” he says, adding that he received help from the UK consulate, who happened to be speaking to his British friend on speaker phone and also offered him advice. “The British were much more helpful and helpful”, he adds.

The next two days, sheltering in place at the school, “were a whirlwind of explosions, sirens and intercepted missiles,” says Dylan.

On Monday night (March 2 UAE time), Dylan decided to leave Bahrain and travel across the bridge to Al Khobar, Saudi Arabia. “I wasn’t going to risk the bridge being bombed and me not being able to cross it,” he said, adding that Saudi Arabia granted him a visa on arrival.

Three days later, he decided to take the 20-hour bus ride to Jeddah because he “didn’t feel safe flying from Dammam or Riyadh.” He was traveling with a friend and Dylan says that some people “got mad at her because she wasn’t wearing a veil, so she bought an abaya” to wear: “I was speaking Portuguese to my friend because I didn’t want people to think I was American,” he says. “We were being very discreet.”

After staying in Jeddah, Dylan flew from there on Sunday (March 8) to Lisbon, Portugal, where he planned to stay with friends for a few days before heading back to the United States.

He says he would like to return to Bahrain if the war ends. Meanwhile, he claims he felt “let down” by the US State Department.

“The U.S. started this whole situation with Israel, and in doing so, not only did it put civilians in Iran in danger, it also put its own American civilians in the region at risk, without a plan B, without any support, leaving us on our own to sort things out.”

‘It’s a shame you can’t count on your own government’

Ashley, originally from North Carolina, was spending a month on vacation in Abu Dhabi with her boyfriend and five-year-old son when the joint US and Israeli attack on Iran occurred.

The family, who live in France, tried to leave the country as the conflict intensified, but said their efforts to obtain information from the US State Department were in vain.

“The US State Department continued to state online that its number one priority was the safety of American citizens,” she says, in the days following the attack. “They would say ‘all you have to do is call this number,’ and then you would call the number and they had no idea what was going on. There was no one to help you.”

Ashley says the State Department issued a memo on March 2 (US time) (March 3 UAE time) saying that all American citizens had to “depart immediately.” “But the sky was closing in,” she explains. “There was no way to leave. So it became a big mess with the American government saying a lot of impossible things.”

It took two more days for American citizens to receive a form to request assistance in leaving the region, which she filled out. Three days later, the US State Department began “contacting people,” saying it would arrange flights for them.

“It is absurd that a government that starts a war waits days after the conflict begins to start repatriating ordinary citizens,” she says.

A State Department official said on Thursday (March 12) that the US government has organized nearly 50 flights to repatriate American citizens from the Middle East since the start of the war.

In the end, Ashley, who is an American citizen and resides in France, managed to get a flight to Portugal on Friday (March 6, UAE time). Just two hours before takeoff, she says that missiles were being intercepted near the airport and reported the fear she felt during the flight.

“Every time we faced turbulence during our trip through the Middle East, it was really scary,” she says.

When they finally landed in Europe, she “felt physically ill.”

“It’s a shame that even the government itself doesn’t help us,” says Ashley, who works in product marketing in the technology field. “If you can’t get people out of their homes, that’s okay, but communicate. Help us understand why and what the next steps will be.”

“Have a plan in place. Help us feel supported.”

“We voted for Trump because he wasn’t going to war – we felt betrayed”

Aaliya*, 37, and her husband, both US citizens, live in Abu Dhabi with their two young children.

Disappointed by the initial lack of support from the US government when the conflict began, she also feels “betrayed and ashamed” as she had encouraged “her entire family to vote for Trump” because of his stance on the war and his “promise to put America and Americans first.”

“There was no coherent plan on how to help American citizens,” she says. “We were an afterthought.” She adds that there has been “no information” from the US State Department “for days”.

She was trying to find a suitable flight out of Abu Dhabi for her and her two children, aged six months and three years. “Hearing the missiles in the middle of the night is really affecting us psychologically. My three-year-old daughter clings to me when she hears an alert.”

Aaliya received an offer from the US State Department to travel to Athens, but chose to pay for a direct commercial flight from Dubai to the US.

She claims that although she feels “safe” in the UAE and receives regular briefings on missile interceptions, she is leaving because she “does not know or trust what the US will do next”.

Aaliya says she regrets encouraging her family to vote for Trump. “When this happened, and seeing the trajectory of everything, I felt really betrayed and sad,” she says. “It’s embarrassing. We didn’t vote for this Trump; we voted for the Trump who wouldn’t go to war, who would guarantee lower prices, and we got exactly the opposite. I was so naive. I feel like he betrayed the people who voted for him.”

“He’s not prioritizing the United States, and what’s worse is that American citizens in other countries are also facing these consequences. I wish he really was on the side of the American people. I don’t trust anything he says. We don’t need to be in this situation.”

Aaliya and her husband have been in the UAE since July 2023 and planned to stay for four years before returning to the United States, where she hoped to do a hospital residency.

While she still “loves America and being an American,” she says her trip back to Virginia won’t be a triumphant return.

“Returning to the US will be sad, because what we are experiencing now is something that could have been avoided,” she says. “It didn’t need to happen, and everything will be affected: the economy, oil prices, everything.”

*Name has been changed

Originally published by The Guardian on March 16, 2026

By Jane Clinton