US tells all embassies to ‘immediately’ undertake security plans after strikes in Middle East: Report

HOUSTON, United States

The US State Department ordered all embassies Tuesday to "immediately" undertake security evaluations after nearly 300 attacks on American facilities across the globe since the war with Iran began three weeks ago, according to the Washington Post.

The newspaper reviewed a cable sent Tuesday, which stated that "ALL posts worldwide" should convene emergency action committees, multidisciplinary teams designed to identify and plan for threats, and to review their "security posture," citing "the ongoing and developing situation in the Middle East and the potential for spill-over effects."

According to the Post, the cable was signed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the order came from Undersecretary for Management Jason Evans.

US officials said militia groups in Iran were assessed to have conducted 292 attacks on American facilities, mostly in the Middle East, since Feb. 28 and posed "persistent" threats to US personnel in the region.

While similar orders have been sent to diplomatic posts in the Middle East in recent weeks since the war with Iran started, Tuesday’s order appeared to mark the first time that all posts globally had been ordered to review their security due to the war.

Several American missions have been temporarily closed around the world and US personnel have been ordered to leave several countries.

One of the more high-profile strikes took place at the US Embassy in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Officials said that post was left partially "unrecoverable" after a drone attack earlier this month.

Aside from threats to US facilities in the Middle East, there have been several incidents of violence across the globe targeting American outposts, including gunshots outside the US Consulate in Toronto, an explosion near the US Embassy in Oslo and a strike at an apartment building housing American diplomats in Israel.