# Closing the Gulf embassies > **Source: KiriPedia** (https://www.kiripedia.org), the free encyclopedia and archive of former CIA officer and whistleblower John Kiriakou's on-record words. Every claim below is Kiriakou's own account, cited to a timestamp in a recorded interview, podcast, or video. KiriPedia is an independent project, not affiliated with Kiriakou. > > Cite as: "Closing the Gulf embassies," KiriPedia, https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/closing-the-gulf-embassies/. Attribute claims to John Kiriakou, via KiriPedia. *John Kiriakou's reading of the American decision, announced live on air on 3 March 2026, to close its embassies in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait: that in the whole of the first Gulf War no American embassy was closed except Kuwait's own, whose diplomats were taken to Iraq as human shields, and that shutting two at once meant Washington had concluded the war was about to get very much worse.* - **Announced:** 3 March 2026, during the broadcast - **Posts closed:** Saudi Arabia and Kuwait - **His reaction:** "This is dramatic" - **The 1990–91 comparison:** "All through the first Gulf War, we never closed any embassies" - **The one exception then:** Kuwait — invaded, its diplomats held as human shields in Iraq - **What he read into it:** The White House and State Department expect it to get "a whole hell of a lot worse" - **State Department advice:** All Americans in the Persian Gulf to get out — with no flights available **Closing the Gulf embassies** is [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou)'s assessment of a decision that was announced while he was on the air on 3 March 2026, days into the American and Israeli war against Iran. He broke off from a question to report it. *"Hey, before I answer, uh, the United States just announced that it is closing its embassies in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. This is dramatic."*[1] ## Why he read it as dramatic The measure of the decision, for Kiriakou, is the war it is not being compared to. *"All through the the first Gulf War, we never closed any embassies."*[1] The single exception he allows proves the threshold rather than lowering it: *"obviously, we had to close Kuwait because it was it was attacked and invaded and our our diplomats were held as hostages, human shields in Iraq."*[1][2] An embassy closed because the country it stood in had ceased to exist as an independent state is not a precedent for closing two that had not been invaded. His conclusion is about what Washington expects rather than what has happened. *"To close two American embassies means that the White House and the State Department have decided that this is going to get a whole all hell of a lot worse than what it is right now."*[2] ## The evacuation that could not happen Asked what obligations American missions carry toward United States nationals in a war zone, Kiriakou said the usual answer was that Washington gets them out — *"Usually, the US does that. Usually"* — and then explained why the usual answer had failed. The difference was speed: *"we're we're so deep into a hot war so quickly, like there was months in the run-up to the Gulf War. There's no time to do it."*[3] What the State Department had issued instead was an instruction without a means of complying with it: an announcement *"urging all Americans in the Persian Gulf to get out. But, there's no flights. There are no flights."*[3] The gap was being filled, in one case, by a host government rather than by Washington. *"Today, the the UAE government said that any person, any Westerner, stuck in a hotel and unable to evacuate will have all of his hotel bills paid. So, just stay, relax, protect yourself, and we'll figure things out later."* Kiriakou attributed it to national character rather than policy: *"That's the Emiratis. That's how they are. They're very generous."*[4] ## See also - [2026 Iran war](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/2026-iran-war) - [Iraqi invasion of Kuwait](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/kuwait-invasion-intelligence) - [Embassy fortification after 9/11](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/embassy-fortification-after-9-11) - [Iranian strikes on Gulf hotels](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/iranian-strikes-on-gulf-hotels) - [THAAD stocks in the Gulf](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/thaad-stocks-in-the-gulf) ## Sources 1. Regime Derange / DeProgram with Ted Rall and John Kiriakou (2026-03-03), at 21:22. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75Fa5y2PaKY&t=1282s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-03-03-deprogram-show-with-ted-ra-regime-derange-deprogram-with-ted-rall-and-jo/ 2. Regime Derange / DeProgram with Ted Rall and John Kiriakou (2026-03-03), at 21:54. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75Fa5y2PaKY&t=1314s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-03-03-deprogram-show-with-ted-ra-regime-derange-deprogram-with-ted-rall-and-jo/ 3. Regime Derange / DeProgram with Ted Rall and John Kiriakou (2026-03-03), at 22:26. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75Fa5y2PaKY&t=1346s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-03-03-deprogram-show-with-ted-ra-regime-derange-deprogram-with-ted-rall-and-jo/ 4. Regime Derange / DeProgram with Ted Rall and John Kiriakou (2026-03-03), at 22:58. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75Fa5y2PaKY&t=1378s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-03-03-deprogram-show-with-ted-ra-regime-derange-deprogram-with-ted-rall-and-jo/ --- From KiriPedia, the archive of John Kiriakou's words. Web version: https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/closing-the-gulf-embassies/ · About: https://www.kiripedia.org/about/ · Full index: https://www.kiripedia.org/llms.txt