State didn’t seek TRANSCOM aid in evacuating Americans after Iran
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a Democrat from Massachusetts and ranking member of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, during a hearing in Washington on April 21, 2026.
Graeme Sloan | Bloomberg | Getty Images
The State Department did not task U.S. Transportation Command, or TRANSCOM, with evacuating non-federal-government Americans from the Middle East after the start of the Iran war, according to responses provided by the military branch to Sen. Elizabeth Warren and first shared with CNBC.
In a letter sent to Warren in May after the Massachusetts Democrat requested more information about the evacuation operation in early March, TRANSCOM reported that more than 1,500 State Department individuals had been moved. But in response to a series of questions about the relocation of other U.S. citizens in the area, the command said it “did not receive an assignment to transport American civilians (non-U.S. government personnel).”
“The Trump administration endangered Americans by starting an illegal war in the Middle East, then failed them by neglecting to use every means possible to evacuate them quickly and safely,” Warren said in a statement to CNBC. he said. “Donald Trump’s Iran War has endangered American soldiers and civilians abroad, increased costs for families at home, and destroyed our standing on the world stage; this war must end now.”
CNBC has reached out to the State Department and TRANSCOM for comment.
Warren criticized the Trump administration’s efforts to rescue Americans trapped in the Iran war and the conflict that began in late February.
Pressured TRANSCOM commander Gen. Randall Reed The response at the Senate hearing in March was followed by letters to TRANSCOM in April seeking more information.
TRANSCOM has been tasked in the past by the State Department to distract Americans from volatile geopolitical situations.
TRANSCOM provided assistance in 2021: Massive evacuation effort in AfghanistanAs US troops and others withdraw from the country. During the 2006 War between Israel and Hezbollah, TRANSCOM partnered with the State Department to evacuate approximately 15,000 Americans from Lebanon; this was one of the largest efforts of its kind in recent history. Government Accountability Office.
“President Trump has a right to know whether the Trump administration is using every means at its disposal to evacuate Americans from the Middle East after President Trump launched an illegal and unconstitutional war that endangered the lives of Americans in the region,” Warren wrote in her April letter to TRANSCOM. he wrote.
Americans in the region have complained about chaotic and at times confusing communications from the U.S. government after attacks on Iran began in late February.
In early March, the State Department sparked an uproar by issuing a warning to U.S. citizens to “LEAVE NOW.” Some Americans were stuck in the region for days or weeks while searching for commercial or administrative routes out of the Middle East.
Under questioning from Warren, Reed testified to the Senate in early March that TRANSCOM helped airlift hundreds of Americans out of the region. But Warren said TRANSCOM told her office in March that the State Department had not contacted her to assist in the evacuation of Americans working for U.S. nongovernmental organizations.
The apparent discrepancy led Warren to seek explanations.
“There was a significant discrepancy between what my office was told before the hearing and the information you provided at the hearing,” Warren wrote in April. “And more than a month after that hearing, my office has yet to receive any information from your command to support your testimony.”
In March, Warren led Massachusetts delegation In a letter to the State Department, he criticized the administration’s unpreparedness to evacuate Americans and pressed for a response.
“Since February 28, more than 120,000 U.S. citizens have returned safely to the United States from the Middle East,” the State Department said in a two-page response in May. he said. “The Department operated more than 60 charter flights and coordinated ground transportation options, continuing to provide safety updates and travel assistance as we safely evacuated thousands of Americans from the Middle East.”
“The Department stands ready to assist any American who wishes to leave the area, subject to local security conditions and available transportation facilities,” the State Department wrote.
