Britain evacuates staff from Iran amid growing fears Trump will launch an attack

Britain announced on Friday that it had temporarily evacuated its embassy staff from Iran, citing the security situation in the region.

The UK foreign office said its ability to assist British citizens was now extremely limited, with the embassy working remotely and the inability to provide in-person consular support even in emergencies.

The announcement comes after President Donald Trump’s repeated threats to attack Iran and the United States’ largest military buildup in the region in decades.

The US embassy in Jerusalem also announced on Friday that it was allowing non-emergency government personnel and family members to leave Israel ‘due to security risks’.

“On February 27, 2026, the Department of State authorized the departure of non-emergency U.S. government personnel and family members of U.S. government personnel from the Israel Mission due to security risks,” the embassy website said.

“Individuals may consider leaving Israel while commercial flights are available,” the statement said.

According to the New York Times, US Ambassador Mike Huckabee sent an email to embassy staff on Friday morning saying that those who want to leave ‘must do it TODAY’.

‘Then focus on finding a place anywhere you can continue your trip to DC, but the first priority will be to get out of the country quickly,’ he wrote.

Trump, who ordered the attack on Iran last year, has repeatedly threatened Tehran with new military operations if it does not reach an agreement with the United States.

Iran said on Friday that the United States would have to give up its “excessive demands” to reach a deal, tempering optimism expressed after Oman-brokered talks seen as a last resort to avoid war.

The statement came after diplomatic talks between American and Iranian officials broke down in Geneva on Thursday over disagreements over the Islamic regime’s nuclear program.

The latest round of talks ended without an agreement, according to The Wall Street Journal, as both sides remain divided on key issues, including ending uranium enrichment and dismantling Iran’s nuclear facilities.

Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner are leading the American delegation as the president makes a final push for a diplomatic solution to avoid military conflict with Iran.

Trump gave Iran 15 days to reach a deal on February 19, and Iran insists that talks focus only on its nuclear program, while the US wants Tehran’s missile program and support for militant groups to be reduced.

The world’s largest aircraft carrier, USS Gerald R. Ford, is expected to arrive on the coast of northern Israel on Friday as part of the restructuring.

Washington has also approved the deployment of an experimental US military drone unit with self-detonation capability, known as Task Force Scorpion, according to Bloomberg.

The deadly drone unit is part of Trump’s massive military buildup in the Middle East; this is the largest since the invasion of Iraq in 2003.

The kamikaze drone unit was successfully tested in the Persian Gulf in December and reportedly cost around $35,000 per drone.

It is stated that drones will probably be used to target Iran’s nuclear facilities, road networks and missile launch sites.

“We established the fleet last year to equip our warfighters with new warfighter capabilities that continue to rapidly evolve,” said Tim Hawkins, a spokesman for U.S. Central Command.

USS Gerald R. Ford, the world’s largest aircraft carrier, is expected to arrive on the coast of northern Israel on Friday as part of the restructuring.

The kamikaze drone unit was successfully tested in the Persian Gulf in December and its cost per drone was reported to be approximately $35,000

Drones produced in Arizona are designed for one-way attack, reconnaissance operations and maritime strikes.

Trump’s new air weapons ‘have a wide range and are designed to operate autonomously.’

Newly advanced drones are on standby as Trump promises to strike Iran if diplomatic talks fail.

The United States also sent advanced F-22 Raptor fighter jets to Israel for deployment.

Meanwhile, Washington currently has more than a dozen warships in the Middle East: an aircraft carrier – USS Abraham Lincoln – nine destroyers and three more battleships.

The presence of two US aircraft carriers in the region, carrying dozens of warplanes and crewing thousands of sailors, is a rare occurrence.

In his State of the Union address, Trump said he wanted to make a deal with the Ayatollah guaranteeing Tehran would never develop a nuclear bomb, but he also warned that he was prepared for war if diplomacy failed.

‘We are in talks with them. They want to make a deal, but we haven’t heard the secret words: “We will never have nuclear weapons.”

As lawmakers applauded, Trump added, “My preference is to resolve this problem through diplomacy.”

‘But one thing is certain: I will never allow the world’s number one sponsor of terrorism to have nuclear weapons. ‘I can’t let this happen.’