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State Department moves to return diplomats

August 25, 2026

Washington plans to rebuild diplomatic staffing at eight Middle East posts it drew down through the Iran conflict, according to an internal State Department document.

The New York Times reports that the State Department is preparing to send Foreign Service officers back to embassies emptied before and during the war with Iran, citing an internal department document. Haaretz carries the same document and names the posts slated for higher staffing: Israel, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Jordan, Oman, Iraq and Kuwait. Haaretz adds the detail that the first returning diplomats go to the embassy in Lebanon, where staffing stays below full strength, and that posts in the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Lebanon are initially capped at 85 percent while Iraq, Kuwait and Bahrain sit at 75 percent, a limit The Jerusalem Post also carries.

thenationalnews.com reports a department official confirming on Tuesday that staffing levels at Middle East postings are being adjusted, with the official framing the change as a posture decision meant to keep US foreign policy work going while protecting personnel. Reuters carries the same preparation, and The Times of Israel ties the return to a reading that fresh hostilities with Iran are not close at hand, a reading thenationalnews.com states plainly as well. The context is uncontested across the outlets: since the war President Donald Trump launched alongside Israel on February 28, the department has thinned its regional presence, and thenationalnews.com reports that compounds in Baghdad, Riyadh and Kuwait have been fired on or hit repeatedly.

The surrounding diplomacy is thinner but consistent. Haaretz reports that Pakistan's army chief Asim Munir put a US proposal to Tehran on Monday, trading an end to the naval blockade and sanctions for the opening of the Strait of Hormuz and a stand-down by Iran's proxies, and that Iran has passed its positions to Washington through Pakistani mediators. The Jerusalem Post reports Trump saying last week that no talks with Iran were scheduled and the blockade held. Settled: the plan, the posts, the caps, the official confirmation. Not settled: when officers actually arrive, and whether the diplomacy behind the move goes anywhere.

Still developing

The timetable is loose: The Jerusalem Post and thenationalnews.com place the first returns as early as this week, and the document stops short of restoring normal operations at every affected embassy. The response in Tehran to the proposal Haaretz describes stays unconfirmed across the outlets carrying it.

How settled the reporting is

Reported 100% · Contested 0% · Developing 0%

Sources