The U.S. State Department confirmed the evacuation of non-essential staff from the American embassy in Iraq and added that it has also ordered the evacuation of non-essential personnel and their family members from embassies in Bahrain and Kuwait. Meanwhile, an official American source told Reuters news agency that families of U.S. military forces in Bahrain are also authorized to evacuate temporarily "due to increasing regional tension." Earlier, threatening voices were heard from Tehran, as Defense Minister Aziz Nasir-Zadeh said that if nuclear negotiations fail and a conflict is "imposed on Iran," it will strike U.S. military bases in the Middle East.