Intelligence chief warns Iranian plots against US personnel abroad have reached "advanced stages"

Iran has stepped up efforts to target American personnel overseas, and some of its plots have reached "advanced stages," Director of National Intelligence Jay Clayton warned Secretary of State Marco Rubio in a memo dated Friday, according to BBC News, NBC News and ABC News. A U.S. official confirmed the memo's authenticity. Axios first reported its existence.

"The lethal plotting efforts by the Iranians against U.S. citizens have reached advanced stages in both the Middle East and certain other countries," Clayton wrote in the one-page, unclassified memo, which said the U.S. had "received intelligence that Iran has substantially increased efforts to target U.S. personnel."

The memo does not name specific targets or the countries outside the Middle East where plotting is taking place, Axios reported. Clayton wrote that the risk is "relevant to more individuals than are currently cleared to receive this information" and said he would "make every effort to downgrade as much intelligence as possible" so Rubio could share it with State Department staff, NBC News reported. ABC News reported that senior members of Rubio's staff had already been briefed.

The warning comes as the State Department reduces its footprint in the region. Earlier this week it ordered family members and nonemergency personnel to leave the U.S. Embassy in Riyadh and consulates in Jeddah and Dhahran, and on Friday it ordered further staff reductions at embassies in the United Arab Emirates, Lebanon, Qatar and Jordan, according to Axios and NBC News.

"The threat of Houthi attacks and of Iranian terror plots targeting U.S. officials are informing our decisions on staffing adjustments for embassies on restricted operating status in the region," a U.S. official said, according to ABC News and the BBC.