The U.S. government ordered non-emergency government employees to leave Saudi Arabia as the war engulfing Iran widened across the Middle East, pushing oil prices above $110 per barrel and triggering a market sell-off in Asia.

The U.S. embassy in Riyadh said Monday that non-emergency American government employees and their family members were ordered to leave the Kingdom, citing heightened risks from armed conflict, terrorism and missile and drone attacks from Yemen and Iran. That marked the first such departure order issued by Washington in Saudi Arabia since the war began.