Iran has responded to the United States’ direct involvement in the Iran-Israel conflict by targeting its military assets in the Middle East.
On Monday, Ali Akbar Velayati, an adviser to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, announced that bases used by US forces “in the region or elsewhere” could be attacked in retaliation for US attacks on Iran’s underground nuclear sites the previous day.
Later that evening, explosions were heard over Qatar’s capital, Doha, as Iran attacked Al Udeid Air Base, the largest US military base in the Middle East.
Here’s everything you need to know about Al Udeid:
What is Al Udeid?
Gas-rich Qatar, which lies 190km (120 miles) south of Iran across the Gulf, is home to the US’s largest military base in the region, Al Udeid.
The 24-hectare (60-acre) base, in the desert outside the capital Doha, was set up in 1996 and is the forward headquarters for US Central Command, which directs US military operations in a huge swathe of territory stretching from Egypt in the west to Kazakhstan in the east.
It houses the Qatar Emiri Air Force, the US Air Force, the United Kingdom’s Royal Air Force, and other foreign forces.
It houses around 10,000 troops.
Earlier this year, The Hill, a Washington, DC-based newspaper, reported that Al Udeid’s “long, well-maintained runways enable rapid deployment, making it a critical component of US force projection”.
The Hill also reported that Qatar’s investment in Al Udeid has kept it “at the forefront of military readiness while saving US taxpayers billions of dollars”. Over the years, it said, Qatar had spent more than $8bn upgrading infrastructure.
The base has played a central role in air campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan, and in humanitarian missions, including the 2021 evacuation of Kabul.
Why is it in the news?
On Monday, Qatar’s Foreign Ministry announced it had temporarily closed its airspace amid threats of Iranian retaliation.
“The competent authorities announce the temporary suspension of air traffic in the country’s airspace, as part of a set of precautionary measures taken based on developments in the region,” the ministry said.
The closure came several hours after the US and UK embassies urged their citizens in Qatar to shelter in place out of what it said was “an abundance of caution”.
Later, news agency Reuters cited a Western diplomat as saying there had been a credible Iranian threat against Al Udeid since noon on Monday.
That evening, Qatar’s Defence Minister, cited by Al Jazeera, said the country’s air defences had intercepted missiles directed at Al Udeid.
Was Al Udeid prepared for the attack?
Before targeting Iran’s nuclear sites, it appears that the US started taking precautionary measures.
As US President Donald Trump mulled direct involvement in the Iran-Israel conflict, news agency AFP reported that dozens of US military aircraft were no longer on the tarmac at the air base, basing its assessment on satellite images published by Planet Labs PBC.
Nearly 40 military aircraft – including transport planes like the Hercules C-130 and reconnaissance aircraft – were parked on the tarmac at the base, the regional headquarters of the Pentagon’s Central Command, on June 5. But in an image taken on June 19, only three aircraft were visible.
One US official who spoke to Reuters said aircraft that were not in hardened shelters had been moved from Al Udeid base. Additionally, he said US Navy vessels had been moved from a port in Bahrain, where the US military’s 5th fleet is located.
“It is not an uncommon practice,” the official said. “Force protection is the priority.”
Was Al Udeid involved in US attacks on nuclear sites?
No.
Prior to the US attack on nuclear sites on Sunday, it was reported that B-2 bombers were heading to Guam – a ruse, as it turned out.
As all eyes looked West, seven B-2 stealth bombers took off from Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri in the US at 00:01 EDT (04:01 GMT), according to the Pentagon. The top-secret flights flew straight over the Atlantic to Iran.
None of the US bases in the Middle East were deployed in the US offensive on Iran.
How has Qatar responded to the attack on Al Udeid?
Qatar condemned the attack on the air base, calling it a “flagrant violation” of its sovereignty.
“We express the State of Qatar’s strong condemnation of the attack on Al Udeid Air Base by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, and consider it a flagrant violation of the State of Qatar’s sovereignty and airspace, as well as of international law,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Majed Al-Ansari said in a statement.
Iran and Qatar enjoy fraternal diplomatic relations. Qatar has condemned the US strikes on Iran’s nuclear sites.
