BICOM

The US State Department yesterday announced that a number of United States’ embassies and consulates in the Middle East will be closed on Sunday due to an unspecified security threat.

State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said, “The Department of State has instructed certain US embassies and consulates to remain closed or to suspend operations on Sunday, August 4^th… Security considerations have led us to take this precautionary step.”

Although Harf declined to elaborate on the details of the security concerns or specify which missions would be closed, she added, “The department has been apprised of information that, out of an abundance of caution and care for our employees and others who may be visiting our installations … indicates we should institute these precautionary steps.”

A senior State Department official told the BBC that “We have instructed all US embassies and consulates that would have normally been open on Sunday to suspend operations, specifically on August 4^th” adding that “It is possible we may have additional days of closing as well.”CBS News said that the US embassies which would be closed on Sunday include those in Israel, Jordan and Egypt plus twelve other Middle East countries.

Meanwhile, adding to the sense of possible increased tension in the region, International Quds Day will be marked today. The day was first conceived by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, leader of the 1979 Iranian revolution, as an expression of anti-Israel and invariably anti-Western sentiment. Mass rallies, which often include the burning of Israeli flags are expected to take place in countries across the region. In public comments to coincide with Quds Day, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei said “A new Middle East will come into being… This Middle East will be an Islamic Middle East.”