Monday's attack on a U.S. Air Force Base in Qatar by the Iranian regime was anticipated, an unnamed senior White House official told CNN, adding that President Trump "does not want more military engagement in the region."
“We knew they’d retaliate. They had a similar response after Soleimani," the official said, referring to the United States' January 2020 airstrike that killed Qasem Soleimani, commander of the IRGC's Quds Force. After Soleimani's death Iran fired missiles at U.S. bases in Iraq, but there were no casualties.
As a refresher, Soleimani and the Quds Force are believed to be “responsible for the deaths of hundreds of American and coalition service members and the wounding of thousands more" by "providing Iraqi insurgents with specially made bombs that could penetrate armor, a deadly weapon against American forces" during the Iraq war, and Soleimani was "also often reported to be on the battlefields in Iraq, slipping in and out of the country to help Shia Iraqi forces battle extremist militants."
In addition:
US Treasury officials say Soleimani was involved in a notorious plot on American soil, overseeing Quds Force officers who in 2011 tried and failed to assassinate Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to the United States Adel Al-Jubeir at Washington’s upscale Cafe Milano.
All of the missiles fired at Al Udeid Air Base on Monday were intercepted, and there were no casualties. Satellite imagery from last week shows that most of the aircraft on the base were evacuated before the U.S. strike on Iran's nuclear facilities.
The @AP reporting Al Udeid has been struck.
— Henry Jones (@hthjones) June 23, 2025
As @MTSavill points out below, it looks as though most of the aircraft were evacuated between June 12 and June 17, per this @CopernicusEU imagery I just grabbed of the airfield's northern apron. https://t.co/zD347Sv9JQ pic.twitter.com/v9uIEvvlbg
CNN spoke to "defense officials" who confirmed that planes were moved from Al Udeid last week, and that other U.S. assets in the area were also moved.
Two defense officials told CNN last week the planes were taken to other locations as part of the US military’s effort to protect its assets and equipment in the Middle East amid the conflict between Iran and Israel.
Additionally, all of the US Navy ships that had been forward-deployed at Naval Support Activity Bahrain — the US Navy’s base in the island country — left port last week. It’s not clear where the planes and ships went.
President Trump confirmed Monday that the nuclear sites targeted in Operation Midnight Hammer were "totally destroyed."
At the time of publication, Trump is meeting with his National Security Team. While Democrats and some on the right continue to claim that Trump has dragged the United States into another "forever war" in the Middle East, at this point that does not seem likely.
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