A Senate hearing scheduled for June 12, 2025, with Army Gen. Michael Kurilla, center, the commander of U.S. Central Command, has been postponed amid rising tensions with Iran. Kurilla is pictured with Katherine Thompson, who is performing the duties of the assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs, and Marine Gen. Michael Langley, the commander of U.S. Africa command, testifying June 10, 2025, during a House hearing. (Eric Kayne/Stars and Stripes)
WASHINGTON — A Senate hearing to discuss U.S. forces in the Middle East was postponed Wednesday as the Defense Department authorized the families of troops stationed in the region to leave in the face of rising tensions with Iran.
Army Gen. Michael Kurilla, commander of U.S. Central Command, was slated to testify Thursday before the Senate Armed Services Committee about American forces in the region. The hearing was postponed less than 24 hours before it was scheduled to take place, according to a Senate webpage.
Earlier in the day, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth authorized “the voluntary departure” of troops’ families from locations across the Middle East due to rising tensions, according to a defense official. U.S. Central Command, which oversees U.S. military operations in the Middle East, was working with the State Department and allies in the region to “maintain a constant state of readiness,” according to the defense official who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The State Department also authorized the departure of nonessential personnel and family members from Bahrain and Kuwait.
Tensions in the region have been rising in recent days as talks between the U.S. and Iran over its advancing nuclear program appear to have hit an impasse, the Associated Press reported.
The talks seek to limit Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of some of the crushing economic sanctions that the U.S. has imposed on the Islamic Republic. Iran insists its nuclear program is peaceful.
President Donald Trump, who has previously threatened to use military force against Iran if negotiations failed, gave a less-than-optimistic view about reaching a deal with Iran, telling the New York Post’s “Pod Force One” podcast Monday that he was “getting more and more less confident about” a deal.
Iranian Defense Minister Gen. Aziz Nasirzadeh told journalists Wednesday that he hoped talks with the U.S. would yield results, though Tehran stood ready to respond, the AP reported.
“If conflict is imposed on us, the opponent’s casualties will certainly be more than ours, and in that case, America must leave the region, because all its bases are within our reach,” he said. “We have access to them, and we will target all of them in the host countries without hesitation.”
The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations, a Mideast-based effort overseen by the British navy, issued a statement Wednesday warning ships in the region that it “has been made aware of increased tensions within the region which could lead to an escalation of military activity having a direct impact on mariners.”
It urged caution in the Persian Gulf, the Gulf of Oman and the Strait of Hormuz. It did not name Iran, though those waterways have seen Iranian ship seizures and attacks in the past.
