WASHINGTON, May 20: The FBI warned on Tuesday that Al Qaeda was planning “something terrible” in the United States or abroad, a view also echoed by the Saudi ambassador in Washington.

White House spokesman Ari Fleischer told reporters that senior US officials would decide later on Tuesday whether they needed to raise the terror threat level following the warning.

The alert level now stands at yellow, two steps below the highest level, red. It was lowered from orange last April 16. Yellow represents “an elevated risk,” orange a “high risk,” and red a “severe risk.”

In another development, the State Department relayed a warning from the US embassy in Riyadh that more terrorist attacks might be “imminent” in Saudi Arabia.

The embassy and US consulates in Dhahran and Jeddah have been closed following the threat warning.

The embassy’s website says officials have received credible information that further attacks are being planned against unknown targets in Saudi Arabia.

The FBI alert bulletin says that communication intercepts of Al Qaeda suspects abroad indicate a possible terrorist attack in the US.

Earlier, the Saudi ambassador in Washington told reporters that during a recent visit to the kingdom he also heard of “high-level” communication intercepts about a possible terrorist attack in the US.

“My gut feeling tells me something big is going to happen here or in America,” Ambassador Bandar bin Sultan said.

BRITAIN AND GERMANY: Britain and Germany also said on Tuesday they were closing their embassies in Saudi Arabia, agencies add.