US orders non-emergency consular staff in Karachi, Lahore to leave Pakistan

The US said Wednesday it ordered non-emergency staff at two Pakistani consulates to leave the country, and granted permission for staff to leave missions in Saudi Arabia, Cyprus and Oman as Iran retaliates to US-Israeli raids.

The US State Department ordered non-emergency US government employees and the family members of US government personnel from US consulates in Lahore and Karachi to leave Pakistan due to "safety risks", the US embassy in Pakistan said in a statement.

It said there was no change to the status of its embassy in the capital Islamabad.

Pakistani students hold placards and protest outside the US Consulate, against US and Israel attacks on Iran, in Lahore, Pakistan, on Tuesday. AP

The department also "authorized non-emergency US government employees and US government employee family members to leave" Saudi Arabia, Oman and Cyprus "due to safety risks".

On Tuesday, the department said that it was taking "historic action" to assist citizens, who wish to depart the Middle East and return to the United States.

It said that in the past several days more than "9,000 American citizens have safely returned from the Middle East, including over 300 from Israel."

A motorcyclist rides past a closed street as containers are placed in front of the road leading to the US Consulate in Karachi following violent demonstrations a day earlier across Pakistan. AFP

The United States and Israel launched the attack on Saturday and quickly killed Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, two days after US envoys had been speaking to Iran in Geneva on a nuclear accord.

Since then, Iran has expanded its retaliatory missile and drone barrage across the Middle East, hitting on Tuesday a US consulate and base as the United States and Israel said they had pummeled key sites inside Tehran.

Agence France-Presse