U.S. government warns against travel to a European country as Iran war edges in | Official Website of Louis Velazquez, entrepreneur, finance guy and tech innovator

As Iranian forces continue to strike targets across the Middle East in retaliation for the U.S.-Israeli attack that took down Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei, the conflict has spread far across the region.

Drone strikes have targeted airports and hotels in countries including United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Kuwait and Qatar while at least 10 U.S. military outposts across the region have been hit as of Wednesday, March 4.

Sitting south of Türkiye and west of northern Africa in the East Mediterranean Sea, the island nation of Cyprus is the nearest European country to the conflict; Tel Aviv is 230 miles or a one-hour flight away. As the strikes continue, the U.S. State Department raised its travel advisory for Cyprus to “reconsider travel.”

“Reconsider travel to Cyprus due to the threat of armed conflict”: U.S. State Department

“Reconsider travel to Cyprus due to the threat ofarmed conflict and limited U.S. embassy assistance for Americans in the Turkish Cypriot Administered area,” the travel advisory for Cyprus updated on March 3 reads.

Non-emergency U.S. government employees stationed in the country and any of their family members have not yet been given permission to leave the country while travelers are being warned that they may have trouble getting a commercial flight out.

“Following the onset of hostilities between the United States and Iran on February 28, there have been significant disruptions to commercial flights,” the added section on “armed conflict” now reads. “A drone struck a building on the British Sovereign Base Area on Cyprus on March 2.”

The drone strike claimed by Lebanese militant base Hezbollah hit the British Royal British Air Force Akrotiri base while two others targeting it have since been intercepted. Paphos International Airport (PFO) was briefly evacuated on Monday as airlines such as British Airways and Ryanair continue to call off and restart flights into the country.

Cyprus sits in the Mediterranean Sea between Türkiye, Israel and Syria.

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“The U.S. Embassy has limited ability to help U.S. citizens”

While no U.S.-based airlines fly directly to Cyprus, Americans often travel to the country on regional airlines from various European hubs.

“In light of the evolving situation in the Middle East, we have taken the decision to cancel the four TUI Airways flights scheduled to travel to Cyprus on March 4,” the latter airline also wrote in a statement.

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The State Department further writes that the local U.S. Embassy in Nicosia “has limited ability to help U.S. citizens in this area.”

As the conflict continues to spread far beyond Iran and Israel, the State Department and equivalent foreign affairs ministries in multiple countries have put similar travel advisories in place for UAE, Iraq, Israel, Qatar, Kuwait, Lebanon, Bahrain, and Saudi Arabia among other countries.

“Following the onset of hostilities between the United States and Iran on February 28, there has been an ongoing threat of drone and missile attacks from Iran and significant disruptions to commercial flights,” the State Department advisory for Bahrain, Qatar and Kuwait now reads.

Advisories urging Americans to “get out” have also drawn ire given the very limited means for many to do so from Middle Eastern nations at the moment and what many see as a cavalier tone from embassies saying that they are unable to “evacuate or directly assist Americans” as written by the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem in a March 3 social media post.