Americans, U.S.

Americans in Bahrain are a transient community centred on the US Navy, whose Fifth Fleet and Naval Forces Central Command headquarters occupy a former British base in the Juffair district of Manama; before 2026 about 8,000 to 9,000 service members and Defense Department civilians were stationed there, alongside oil, finance, teaching and contracting professionals. The American link is older than the base: Reformed Church in America missionaries led by Samuel Zwemer opened a clinic in the Manama souq in 1893, which grew into the American Mission Hospital, the first modern hospital in the Gulf, and American oilmen struck the first oil on the Arab side of the Gulf at Jabal ad Dukhan in 1932. Families clustered in Juffair high-rises and the Amwaj Islands and sent children to the Bahrain School, the only Defense Department school in the Gulf. When Iran struck the base in February 2026, some 1,300 military dependents were evacuated within days, leaving mainly sailors and essential staff behind.

Americans in Kuwait are a transient community tied to the alliance forged when a US-led coalition liberated the country from Iraq in 1991. Before 2026 about 13,500 American troops served at Camp Arifjan, the forward headquarters of US Army Central, at Camp Buehring in the northwestern desert and at Ali Al Salem Air Base, alongside defence contractors, oil engineers, diplomats and teachers at the American School of Kuwait and the American University of Kuwait. The American link is older than the bases: Reformed Church in America missionaries opened the American Mission Hospital in Kuwait Town on land granted by Sheikh Mubarak in 1911, and Dr Eleanor Calverley opened the country's first hospital for women there; the restored buildings are now the Amricani Cultural Centre. When the 2026 Iran war began, a drone killed six US Army Reserve soldiers at Port Shuaiba on 1 March, the embassy suspended operations, and civilians were urged to leave overland through Saudi Arabia.

About 2,000 United States citizens live in Morocco: diplomats and their families in Rabat and Casablanca, teachers and pupils of the American schools, business staff, retirees in Marrakech and Tangier, and Peace Corps volunteers posted to small towns and villages. Their ties are old: Morocco was among the first countries to recognise the new United States, in 1777, and the American Legation in Tangier, given to the United States in 1821, is its oldest diplomatic property abroad. The Peace Corps has sent more than 5,000 volunteers since 1963, and each new group still spends about ten weeks learning Darija or Tamazight before two years of service in Moroccan towns. Most are Christians or non-religious, and in 2010 dozens of Americans were expelled on charges of proselytism.

Americans in Qatar fall into two worlds: civilian professionals in energy, finance, consulting, teaching and medicine, with their families, and the several thousand service members at Al Udeid Air Base, the forward headquarters of US Central Command since the early 2000s. The civilian community grew from about 3,800 in 1999 to some 15,000 by 2014, drawn by tax-free salaries, liquefied natural gas partnerships and the American university campuses of Education City, where Georgetown, Northwestern, Carnegie Mellon, Virginia Commonwealth and Weill Cornell teach mostly Qatari and Arab students. Most are Christians, many of them evangelicals, who worship in English-language congregations in Doha's church complex or with military chaplains, alongside a large non-religious share. Iran's missile strikes on Al Udeid in June 2025 and the war that began in February 2026 led Washington to order non-emergency staff and families to leave.

About 20,000 Americans live in Saudi Arabia, heirs to the oil workers the Arabian American Oil Company (Aramco) brought to the Eastern Province from the 1930s. The Aramco residential camp in Dhahran, laid out like a small American suburb with lawns, a golf course and its own schools, is still the community's historic heart, while most Americans now live in walled compounds in Riyadh and Jeddah and work in energy, defence, health care, universities and the Vision 2030 building projects. Most are Christian at least in name, and those who practise meet in private fellowships inside compounds and homes, since no church may stand anywhere in the kingdom. In March 2026 Iranian drones struck the U.S. Embassy in Riyadh during the regional war, and many families left for a time.

Americans in the Emirates are mostly professionals and their families in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, working in finance, consulting, energy, aviation, technology, real estate, medicine and teaching, alongside faculty at New York University Abu Dhabi and the American University of Sharjah and several thousand airmen at Al Dhafra Air Base. Their numbers grew from 2023 as Americans moved to Dubai for tax-free salaries, safety and opportunity, some after federal job cuts at home. Most are Christians who worship in English-language evangelical, Anglican, Catholic and Latter-day Saint congregations in the licensed church compounds, with a large secular share. Iran's strikes on Al Dhafra from February 2026 led Washington to close its embassy and consulate, order diplomats' families out and urge citizens to consider leaving.