Non-essential American embassy staff and their dependents in Baghdad are evacuating from Iraq due to heightened security risks, US government sources said on Wednesday. Officials did not say exactly what prompted the removal,

The decision comes amid heightened tensions between the U.S. and Iran as nuclear talks appear to have stalled.

The State Department said it had decided to shrink the U.S. “footprint” in Baghdad and the United Kingdom issued a warning about “increased tensions within the region.”