Americans stranded abroad as Iran war erupted describe struggle to return home

0:00When the U.S. ignited a war with Iran last weekend, the State Department advised Americans to depart now from several countries in the region, but airspace closures left thousands of Americans suddenly stranded. Over the last five days, nearly 24,000 U.S. citizens have safely returned to the United States from the Middle East. This week, we spoke with some of the Americans who were stranded overseas. My name is Iman Abbas. I'm originally Egyptian, but I was born and raised in California. The last nine and a half years, I've lived here in Dubai. There's not really been an easy way out for residents like us. My name is Fulin West, and I'm from Lehi, Utah. My husband and I were in Jerusalem, and we were ready to go home and the war broke out. We got back to Salt Lake yesterday. My name is Matt Gentile. I'm from Rochester, New York, and I was in the Kurdistan

1:01region in Iraq when the war started. I just got back like two hours ago. My name is John Olmeda. I'm here with my wife Susanna Olmeda. We're still in Dubai. We got here about 10 days ago. We were one day away from catching a flight back, and the days prior to that, this was probably the most amazing vacation we've ever had. Then next thing you know, the war breaks out. And there were missiles that were being intercepted right overhead, like from my bedroom window, and it was like a cloud of smoke. The 28th was probably the scariest day. I think we've all ever had in our lives. The missile that fell near the Fairmont Hotel was less than a kilometer away from where we were staying. It was surreal to be standing on the beach and hearing these noises and the ground shaking. Our hotel had a bomb shelter, so we actually went down there, and you would either hear a missile go by or see missiles go by, and then you would hear the explosion.

2:09And that would happen every couple hours. I was back packing around and I was having an incredible time. My friends that were in Kurdistan notified me of the attacks before the government did, and then I kind of realized I needed to evacuate because it was probably only going to get worse. But it's all of the airports in the region closed because the missiles were flying everywhere. So we created a plan for me to get to Turkey, and then from Turkey, I would figure out how to get home. We've just spent hours trying to figure out, okay, that you know, the airport's closed. How do we get out? And it took us two days, didn't sleep, you'd sleep maybe for an hour, but not too long because missiles were going all night long, and the sirens in the city. So you were awake and a little bit traumatized every time we'd hear a loud boom, or maybe some jets flying overhead, I would freeze, I'd get emotional. Because we have dual citizenship, we've contacted the authorities on both sides,

3:13our American passports and our Portuguese passports. The American embassy here has been utterly useless. Utterly, we called on the day of the attacks, which was a Saturday, we called on the Sunday, we called and called an email, I mean, you launch an attack and you don't man these stations with support for your citizens. Conversely, the Portuguese embassy, a representative answered immediately. They had posted a phone number for us to contact for support in terms of helping us evacuate. We call and we're on hold for lengthy periods of time. Finally, we get through to someone, they tell us this isn't the right number, you need to call the consulate, and it's basically a recording. Please do not rely on the US government for assisted departure or evacuation at this time. We cannot help you, basically. There is no concern for our lives. I'm still in very much

4:16contact with all my friends there and they keep just sending me more videos of the missiles and bombs and it's happening across different cities now too, so I'm just kind of worried about them. This was a life-changing event for me and my husband and the people that we were with the whole time I would think I am so grateful to live in America and to have the freedoms that we have. We don't ask to be a part of this. The neighboring countries did not ask to be a part of this and the United States and the government decided to take action very recklessly and it's just unfortunate that you know you have US citizens who pay their tax dollars to support these wars essentially and you can't even give them the support to get to a place where they might feel safe. And a note, John Almeida, who was featured in that story, was able to get on a flight

5:17out of Dubai after we spoke and arrived safely back home along with his wife early this morning.