Senator Elizabeth Warren, Democrat of Massachusetts and ranking member of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, during a hearing in Washington on April 21, 2026.
Graeme Sloane Bloomberg | getty images
The State Department did not task U.S. Transportation Command or Transcom, which is not affiliated with the federal government, with evacuating Americans from the Middle East following the start of the Iran war, according to responses provided by the military branch to Senator Elizabeth Warren and shared for the first time with CNBC.
In a letter to Warren in May following a Massachusetts Democrat’s request for more information on the evacuation operation in early March, Transcom reported relocating more than 1,500 people associated with the State Department. But to multiple questions about relocating other US citizens to the region, the command said it had “not received any assignments to relocate US citizens (non-US government personnel).”
“The Trump administration put Americans in harm’s way by starting an illegal war in the Middle East, then failed them by neglecting to use every possible tool to quickly and safely exit them,” Warren said in a statement to CNBC. “Donald Trump’s Iran war has endangered American troops and civilians abroad, raised costs for families at home, and destroyed our standing on the world stage – it must end now.”
CNBC has contacted the State Department and Transcom for comment.
Warren has been critical of the Trump administration’s handling of the Iran war as well as efforts to evacuate Americans stranded in the region after the conflict began in late February.
He put pressure on the Transcom Commander General Randall Reed The response at the March Senate hearing was followed by a letter to TransCom in April asking for more information.
TRANSCOM has in the past been tasked by the State Department with getting Americans out of volatile geopolitical situations.
In 2021, Transcom assisted Large scale evacuation effort in Afghanistann because American troops and others were withdrawn from the country. And during the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah, Transcom partnered with the State Department to evacuate approximately 15,000 Americans from Lebanon, one of the largest efforts of its kind in recent history, according to Government Accountability Office.
“The American people have a right to know whether the Trump Administration used every tool at its disposal to expel Americans from the Middle East after President Trump launched an illegal and unconstitutional war that has endangered the lives of Americans across the region,” Warren said in her letter to Transcom in April.
Americans in the region complained of chaotic and sometimes confusing communications from the US government after the attacks on Iran began in late February.
In early March, the State Department posted a warning for US citizens to “depart now”, causing an uproar. Some Americans remained stranded in the region for days or weeks as they sought commercial or government routes out of the Middle East.
Under questioning from Warren, Reed said in his Senate testimony in early March that Transcom had assisted in airlifting hundreds of Americans from the region. However, Warren said that Transcom told her office in March that it had not been contacted by the State Department to assist in the evacuation of Americans working for non-U.S.-government entities.
The apparent discrepancy prompted Warren to ask for clarification.
“There was a significant discrepancy between what my office was told prior to the hearing and the information you provided at the hearing,” Warren wrote in April. “And more than a month after that hearing, my office has still not received any information from your order to support your testimony.”
in March, Warren led the Massachusetts delegation. A letter to the State Department criticized the administration’s lack of preparation for the evacuation of Americans and pressed it to respond.
“Since February 28, more than 120,000 American citizens have returned safely to the United States from the Middle East,” the State Department said in a two-page response in May. “The Department organized more than 60 charter flights and coordinated ground transportation options, evacuating thousands of Americans from the Middle East while continuing to provide security updates and travel assistance.”
The State Department wrote, “Subject to local security conditions and available transportation, the Department stands ready to assist any American who wishes to leave the area.”