Non-essential American embassy staff and their dependents in Baghdad are evacuating from Iraq due to heightened security risks, US government sources said on Wednesday. Officials did not say exactly what prompted the removal,

US embassies across the Middle East are preparing to send home non-essential staff and families amid rising tension in the region. President Donald Trump said US personnel were being moved out of the Middle East because "it could be a dangerous place.

Rising tensions with Iran and fears of an Israeli strike prompted the U.S. to move some of its nonmilitary personnel out of the region.