The Pentagon said on Friday that an Iranian ballistic missile struck a major US military base in Qatar last month, with satellite imagery revealing some damage to equipment at the facility.
A June 25 image of Al Udeid Air Base, captured by the US commercial satellite imaging company Planet Labs PBC and reviewed by Business Insider, shows a small circle of scorched earth and damage to an adjacent building.
The scorch mark had been the site of a geodesic dome, which can be seen clearly in an image captured just two days earlier. The adjacent building also had no visible damage in the June 23 photo, taken just hours before Iran launched a barrage of short- and medium-range ballistic missiles at Al Udeid in retaliation after the US bombed three of Tehran’s nuclear facilities.
Sean Parnell, a Pentagon spokesperson, told BI in a statement that an Iranian ballistic missile impacted Al Udeid during the June 23 attack, causing “minimal damage to equipment and structures on the base.” It’s the first time a US official has acknowledged that Tehran scored a direct hit on the base.
However, it’s not entirely clear whether the missile damaged the dome and the building or if debris from an interception caused it.
The $15 million structure, which encloses secure communications equipment, was installed at Al Udeid in 2016. The modernization enterprise terminal, as the Air Force calls it, provides voice, video, and data services to link troops in the Middle East with military leaders in other regions.
The US military said shortly after the attack that the US and Qatari forces “defeated” it using Patriot air defense systems. President Donald Trump said Iran gave him a heads-up about the strike and that 13 of the 14 missiles were shot down — the other one was said to be heading in a “nonthreatening direction.”
US officials had previously acknowledged the possibility that there may have been damage at Al Udeid.
“We’re aware that something — there are reports of something getting through,” Gen. Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters a few days after the attack.
“What we do know is there was a lot of metal flying around,” Caine said. “Between attacking missiles being hit by Patriots, boosters from attacking missiles being hit by Patriots, the Patriots themselves flying around, and the debris from those Patriots hitting the ground, there was a lot of metal flying around, and yet our US air defenders had only seconds to make complex decisions with strategic impact.”
Iran International, a Persian-language TV channel based in the UK, first reported on the satellite imagery of the damage at Al Udeid.
Overall, the attack on Al Udeid did not cause significant damage and was relatively limited in nature, suggesting that Iran may have been aiming to avoid further escalation with the US.
“There were no injuries,” said Parnell, whose remarks were first reported by Air & Space Forces Magazine. “Al Udeid Air Base remains fully operational and capable of conducting its mission, alongside our Qatari partners, to provide security and stability in the region.”
Last month’s strikes against Al Udeid came shortly before Israel and Iran reached a ceasefire to end 12 days of trading attacks against each other.
Israeli forces carried out sweeping airstrikes against Iran’s nuclear and military sites and targeted a number of senior commanders. Tehran retaliated by launching hundreds of missiles and drones at Israel.
The status of Iran’s nuclear program remains in question, with varying assessments of how far it has been set back by American and Israeli strikes.
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