WASHINGTON — As the U.S.-Israeli air campaign against Iran enters its fourth day, American citizens caught in the crossfire of a rapidly widening conflict are facing

dire travel restrictions, closed airspace, and skyrocketing ticket prices — with little immediate help from their own government.

On Tuesday, U.S. lawmakers from both parties unleashed fierce criticism against the State Department for issuing an evacuation advisory three days after strikes began on Saturday, when major airports across the region — including Dubai, the world's busiest international hub — had already shut down or severely limited operations. The late warning, they argued, smacked of zero foresight in a predictable escalation.

"The result is that Americans are stuck and in danger," Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), the top Democrat on the subcommittee overseeing State Department funding, told Reuters. "President Trump said the biggest surprise is that Iran retaliated... but that expected retaliation was the administration's stated reason for our attack."

Democratic Senator Andy Kim of New Jersey, a former State Department official, was even blunter in a post on X: "Warnings to citizens to evacuate 3 days into this war, when airspace is closed, is a clear sign of ZERO strategy and planning by the Trump admin. Now Americans have limited options to evacuate at an extremely dangerous moment with no government assistance. This administration is failing its citizens."

The bipartisan frustration extended to former Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who resigned from Congress last year after clashing with Trump. In a fiery social media post, she highlighted the irony: "American taxpayers are forced to give Israel $3.8 BILLION every single year, and here is our own U.S. embassy in Jerusalem telling Americans good luck getting out, you are on your own. The betrayal is unbelievable."

The State Department advisory, issued Monday, urged U.S. citizens in 14 Middle Eastern countries — including Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and others — to "DEPART NOW" via commercial means due to "serious safety risks." Yet it offered no government-backed flights or direct assistance, and the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem initially stated it could not help Americans trying to leave (though officials later clarified some support was available).

In the Oval Office on Tuesday, President Trump downplayed the lack of pre-planned evacuations, saying simply, "It all happened very quickly," when pressed on why no contingency measures were in place for citizens before the strikes.

Appearing to push back against the mounting criticism, Assistant Secretary of State for Global Public Affairs Dylan Johnson announced Tuesday that the department was "actively securing military aircraft and charter flights for American citizens who wish to leave the Middle East." He added that officials were in contact with nearly 3,000 U.S. citizens seeking help and urged those in need to call the department's emergency line. However, he provided no timeline for when such flights might actually operate.

The conflict has already caused massive disruptions: Iranian drones struck the U.S. Embassy in Saudi Arabia overnight, several U.S. diplomatic posts have closed or scaled back operations, and global energy markets are reeling from the chaos. Tens of thousands of travelers remain stranded, with airlines canceling flights en masse and fares exploding where routes still exist.

Critics say the administration's response highlights a broader failure to anticipate the fallout from a war that Trump has framed as preemptive but that many Democrats — and even some Republicans — argue lacked clear justification or adequate preparation for protecting Americans abroad.

As the strikes continue and Iranian retaliation spreads, the pressure on the State Department to deliver concrete evacuation options is only growing. For now, many U.S. citizens in the region are left navigating the crisis largely on their own. Photo by Oarabile Mudongo, Wikimedia commons.