Photo courtesy of Anadolu.
The United States government said more than 40,000 Americans had returned home from the Middle East as tensions in the region intensified following military action against Iran.
The State Department reported Tuesday that the number of citizens who had departed the region had increased from around 36,000 recorded the previous day.
Assistant Secretary Dylan Johnson said the government had arranged more than two dozen charter flights to assist with the evacuation of Americans.
Johnson said the State Department had also provided direct assistance to more than 27,000 citizens overseas by offering travel support and security advisories during the crisis.
Authorities said evacuation efforts included coordinated ground transportation in addition to government chartered flights.
Officials noted that these operations were continuing as commercial air travel across parts of the Middle East slowly became available again.
Johnson said the State Department would continue helping any American citizen who wanted to leave the region while the situation remained unstable.
The conflict escalated after the United States and Israel launched a joint offensive against Iran on Feb. 28. Tehran later responded with missile and drone strikes targeting Israel and several Gulf countries hosting United States military facilities, while eight American service members were reported killed since the campaign began.
