“Because it did happen all very quickly,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office when asked about thousands of Americans stranded in the region and why there wasn’t an evacuation plan, News.Az reports, citing Aljazeera.
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Trump did not directly address the logistics of assisting Americans overseas, saying, he could ask Secretary of State of Marco Rubio, “but I thought we were going to have a situation where we were going to be attacked. They were getting ready to attack Israel. They were getting ready to attack others,” he said of Iran.
The president’s comments come as concerns grow about the safety of US citizens in the region.
The State Department has urged Americans throughout the Middle East to “depart now” via commercial means. It is unlikely that the majority will be able to depart quickly, as many airlines have suspended their flights in the region. The US government has not begun evacuation flights for American citizens.
