Stuck in the Middle East, US Residents Ask Trump to Declare a Ceasefire

JAKARTA - US President Donald Trump must declare a ceasefire amid his efforts to overthrow the legitimate government in Iran so that many US citizens trapped in the conflict can leave the Middle East.

This was called by an American citizen who is currently in Oman, Sasha Hoffman, 38, to NBC News in a video call yesterday.

"The US State Department needs to find a way to tell people: 'we're going to give you permission where we're not going to bomb, so you have time to get out'," said Hoffman.

"Either they need to give us a ceasefire so we can be in the airspace long enough to get all these people out, or they need to bring jets here and they need to pay for the repatriation of all these people," Hoffman continued.

Hoffman, a California native and venture capital investor living in Boston, said amid the US-Israeli attack on Iran, he and his friends evacuated from Dubai, United Arab Emirates to Oman for thousands of dollars.

In Oman, the situation is calmer. However, Hoffman and his colleagues say the cost of flying out of Oman is "much more expensive" than usual.

"It's like there's an economy class ticket for a few thousand dollars to all destinations from London, Cairo, Istanbul," Hoffman said.

"I mean, these are not cities that usually cost over USD2,000 to visit," he added.

So far, he said, the US government has "acted as if thousands of people have returned to the US."

"It's true, but everyone did it themselves. It's not the US government that paid for it, and they didn't use planes paid for and brought by the US government," said Hoffman.