An Iranian missile strike destroyed a key US communications dome at Al-Udeid Air Base in Qatar, marking a turning point in the Iran-Israel conflict.
An Iranian missile strike on Al-Udeid Air Base in Qatar last month hit a critical communications structure used by the US military, according to a report published by the Associated Press.
The attack marked a significant moment in the 12-day war between Iran and Israel, and ultimately preceded a ceasefire announced by US President Donald Trump.
The targeted structure—a geodesic dome housing satellite communications equipment—was visibly destroyed in the June 23 attack, according to satellite imagery analyzed by the AP and later confirmed by the Pentagon.
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Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell confirmed the Iranian missile strike hours after the AP published its report Friday.
However, he claimed that “the missile strike did minimal damage to equipment and structures on the base”. Qatar has not commented publicly on the damage or the strike itself.
The Al-Udeid Air Base, located outside of Doha, is the forward headquarters for US Central Command and has played a strategic role in operations across the Middle East.
Satellite imagery taken by Planet Labs PBC on the morning of June 23 showed the dome intact just hours before the missile strike.
Subsequent images from June 25 and onward show the dome—also known as a radome—missing, with burn marks and some visible damage to an adjacent building.
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The structure housed what the US Air Force previously described as a “$15 million piece of equipment, known as a modernized enterprise terminal,” installed in 2016 as part of a major upgrade to secure communications.
While the Pentagon has downplayed the extent of the damage, Iranian officials celebrated the strike as a major success.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard described it as a “destructive and powerful missile attack.” The country’s Supreme National Security Council declared the base had been “smashed,” though no specific damage details were offered.
In what appeared to be a veiled reference to the radome strike, a senior adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Ahmad Alamolhoda, stated: “All equipment of the base was completely destroyed and now the US command stream and connection from Al-Udeid base to its other military bases have been completely cut.”
Trump, meanwhile, claimed that the Iranian strike was largely symbolic. He claimed that Iran fired 14 missiles, 13 of which were intercepted. The remaining missile, he said, had been “set free” and was headed in a “nonthreatening” direction.
(The Palestine Chronicle)
Dondolf has been hanging around Nazinyahu too much, now he’s impotent as well. He should have never attacked Iran. The majority of us Americans said don’t but he did it anyway. Turns out, that’s not orange spray-tan, it’s a whole bunch of egg on his face…
These were definitely not Iran’s better missiles, and yet, six out of fourteen landed on that U.S. airbase, inflicting significant damage. Moreover, this took place after Iran’s leadership notified Trump several hours in advance of its intention to attack the airbase. Just imagine what will happen to all those U.S. terrorist airbases in the Middle East (along with all of the U.S. terrorist soldiers inside those airbases) if Iran decides to launch its better missiles at them, and, without delivering any warning in advance.