The State Department said it is actively working to secure military aircraft and charter flights for Americans seeking to leave the Middle East.

“We’ve been in direct contact with nearly 3,000 Americans abroad,” Dylan Johnson of the State Department said on X,  urging citizens to call the department’s line for assistance.

In another statement, the department said 9,000 US citizens have already successfully returned home from the region. The department said it is helping people book flights from countries where commercial air travel is still an option.

“I could tomorrow – or today, even better – stop everything having to do with Spain, all business having to do with Spain,” Trump said on Tuesday.

Trump and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent both claimed that the US can legally place an embargo on products imported from Spain.

But US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer was non-committal when asked by the president for his view on the plan.

“We’re going to talk about it with you,” Greer said.

“You have the strong power that the Supreme Court clarified – we know you can use it. And if you need to use it to assure national and economic security, we’ll do it.”

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the trade threat.

On Tuesday, Trump also expressed frustration with the Spanish government for refusing to increase its defence spending to 5% of its gross domestic product, in contrast to many other European countries that have acquiesced.

Trump has previously suggested that Spain should face economic punishments.

The European Union allows goods to move freely between the 27 countries in the economic bloc, which would complicate any bid to impose trade restrictions on a single member state.

The Spanish government said that if the US administration wants to review its trade relationship Spain, it must respect the autonomy of private companies, international law and bilateral agreements between the EU and the US.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who met Trump on Tuesday, said he told the president that Spain is part of the EU – and that any trade deals with the bloc must include Spain.

In 2025, the US exported roughly $26bn worth of goods to Spain and imports from the country amounted to about $21bn, according to data from the US Census Bureau. Spain’s top exports to the US include pharmaceutical products and olive oil.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, currently one of Europe’s few left-leaning leaders, on Sunday called the US and Israel’s attacks on Iran an “unjustified, dangerous military intervention” in violation of international law.

Officials in Madrid said they would bar the US from using military bases in southern Spain as part of the operation, arguing that doing so would violate the United Nations charter.

Trump also criticised the UK for being “very uncooperative” with his push to use military bases to attack Iran. But he did not make an explicit threat to impose trade restrictions on the country.

[BBC]

Hegseth said a “powerful weapon” struck a “tactical operations centre that was fortified”, without providing further details about the site’s location.

Three US military officials with direct knowledge of Iran’s attack told the BBC’s US partner CBS News that the service members were in a makeshift office space in Kuwait.

They questioned whether the building had been adequately fortified, telling CBS News a trailer was being used as an office, with 12ft (3.7m) steel-reinforced concrete barriers to shield it.

The US has a long-standing defence relationship with Kuwait, and more than 13,000 American soldiers are stationed in the Gulf nation.

Iran has responded to attacks against it by launching missiles at Gulf countries allied with the US. Bahrain, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Oman and Qatar have all also seen strikes.

Separately in Kuwait, the US confirmed three fighter jets were downed after what it described as an incident of “friendly fire” on Monday.

Footage showed the jets spiraling to the ground. The pilots involved all managed to eject and survived the incident.

Iran state media claimed the Iranian military had shot down the jets, without providing evidence.

[BBC]