WASHINGTON/DUBAI/DOHA, Jan 14 (Reuters) – The United States is withdrawing some personnel from bases in the Middle East, a U.S. official said on Wednesday, after a senior Iranian official said Tehran had warned neighbors it would hit American bases if Washington strikes.
With Iran’s leadership trying to quell the worst domestic unrest the Islamic Republic has ever faced, Tehran is seeking to deter U.S. President Donald Trump’s repeated threats to intervene on behalf of anti-government protesters.
A U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the United States was pulling some personnel from key bases in the region as a precaution given heightened regional tensions.
Britain was also withdrawing some personnel from an air base in Qatar ahead of possible U.S. strikes, the i newspaper reported. The British defence ministry had no immediate comment.
“All the signals are that a U.S. attack is imminent, but that is also how this administration behaves to keep everyone on their toes. Unpredictability is part of the strategy,” a Western military official told Reuters later on Wednesday.
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to the media after arriving on Air Force One on January 13, 2026 at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
Anna Moneymaker via Getty Images
Two European officials said U.S. military intervention could come in the next 24 hours. An Israeli official also said it appeared Trump had decided to intervene, though the scope and timing remained unclear.
Qatar said drawdowns from its Al Udeid air base, the biggest U.S. base in the Middle East, were “being undertaken in response to the current regional tensions”.
Three diplomats said some personnel had been told to leave the base, though there were no immediate signs of large numbers of troops being bussed out to a soccer stadium and shopping mall as took place hours before an Iranian missile strike last year.
Trump has repeatedly threatened to intervene in support of protesters in Iran, where thousands of people have been reported killed in a crackdown on the unrest against clerical rule.
Iran and its Western foes have both described the unrest, which began two weeks ago as demonstrations against dire economic conditions and rapidly escalated in recent days, as the most violent since the 1979 Islamic Revolution that installed Iran’s system of Shi’ite clerical rule.
Iranians gather while blocking a street during a protest in Tehran, Iran on January 9, 2026. (Photo by MAHSA / Middle East Images / AFP via Getty Images)
MAHSA via Getty Images
An Iranian official has said more than 2,000 people have died. A rights group put the toll at more than 2,600.
Iran has “never faced this volume of destruction”, Armed Forces Chief of Staff Abdolrahim Mousavi said on Wednesday, blaming foreign enemies.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot described “the most violent repression in Iran’s contemporary history”.