Iran’s widening retaliation during the U.S.-Israeli war has brought renewed attention to the extensive network of American military bases across the Middle East, highlighting both their strategic importance and the political tensions they generate within the countries that host them. Iranian attacks on Gulf energy infrastructure and repeated strikes targeting U.S. facilities have intensified debate over the role of U.S. military power in the region and the long history that produced its current footprint.
On Thursday, March 19, Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister Prince Faisal warned that the kingdom’s tolerance for Iranian attacks was diminishing. He said Saudi Arabia has “the right to take military actions if deemed necessary.” He also stated that Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states have “very significant capacities and capabilities that they could bring to bear” if Iranian attacks continued. The statement followed Iranian strikes on Gulf energy sites in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates, which Iran described as retaliation for an Israeli strike on an Iranian gas field.
Over the previous three weeks of the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran, Tehran expanded its targets across the Gulf. According to the source material, Iran has targeted and damaged at least 17 U.S. sites in the region, including 11 military bases. Two of the largest installations are Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar and the U.S. Navy’s Fifth Fleet headquarters in Bahrain, which host 10,000 and 9,000 U.S. military personnel respectively. Overall, the U.S. maintains an estimated 50,000 troops across the region.
These installations are the result of decades of shifting geopolitical priorities. In the mid-twentieth century, the United States had relatively few military bases in the Middle East, and those that existed were not always permanent. One of the earliest was established in 1946 in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, near a major oil field. The base reflected growing U.S. interest in the region after the discovery of large oil reserves. A year later, Aramco became dominated by U.S. firms.
The Dhahran base was ultimately removed after public opposition intensified during the 1950s. Saudi Arabia experienced a militant labor movement composed of Saudi workers and other Arab workers who brought Arab nationalist, socialist, and communist political ideas. Major strikes took place in the Dhahran oil fields in 1953 and 1956. Prior to the 1956 general strike at Aramco, demonstrators confronted King Sa’ud in Dhahran demanding, in the words of historian Toby Matthiesen, “the removal of the American military base there and the nationalization of Aramco.” Rising public pressure led King Sa’ud to eject the U.S. base in 1962. Saudi Arabia did not allow another permanent U.S. base until the 1990s.
Across the region, the 1950s and 1960s were shaped by anti-colonial movements and Arab nationalism. Egyptian leader Gamal Abdel Nasser played a significant role in popularizing opposition to foreign military presence. After nationalizing the Suez Canal in 1956, Nasser became an influential voice against Western military bases. In February 1964, The New York Times reported that Nasser “called on Libya… to ‘liquidate’ United States and British military bases” from the country. The U.S. later vacated Wheelus Air Base in Libya after Muammar Gaddafi’s 1969 coup. In Morocco, the U.S. constructed four air bases in the 1950s, but the Istiqlal Party advocated their removal, and the bases were dismantled in 1963 after Morocco gained independence from France.
U.S. basing strategy shifted significantly after the Iranian Revolution of 1979, which removed the Shah as a key American ally. During the 1970s, the U.S. had maintained extensive ties with the Shah’s government. The source material states that the U.S. embassy and intelligence stations in Iran conducted surveillance on the Soviet Union, while 50,000 U.S. advisers trained the Shah’s army and secret police. With the loss of Iran as a strategic partner, Washington sought alternative locations to maintain influence in the Persian Gulf. Egypt, Oman, Bahrain, and Saudi Arabia allowed limited use of military facilities and developed closer defense relationships with the United States, often without broad public awareness.
The most significant expansion of permanent U.S. bases occurred in the early 1990s during and after the Gulf War. The U.S. established long-term military installations in Kuwait, Qatar, and Bahrain, and maintained extended access to sites in Saudi Arabia. Rather than decreasing after the collapse of the Soviet Union, U.S. military presence grew as the country became the world’s sole superpower. Following the 1990-91 Gulf War, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates signed formal defense agreements granting the U.S. access to military facilities across the Gulf.
The expansion of military installations coincided with broader political and economic developments. After the U.S.-led campaign ended Iraq’s occupation of Kuwait, Washington supported negotiations aimed at ending the Palestinian First Intifada, including the Madrid Conference and later the Oslo Accords. In the years that followed, the U.S. facilitated economic changes across the region involving privatization, deregulation, and the sale of state assets, policies often associated with the Washington Consensus. U.S. military bases formed one component of a wider restructuring of regional political and economic systems.
After 2001, the U.S. further expanded its military infrastructure during the “war on terror.” During the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the U.S. maintained more than 1,000 installations across those two countries. Bases were expanded or newly established in Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Iraq, and Jordan.
Bahrain has remained a central location for U.S. military operations. The country hosts the U.S. Navy’s Fifth Fleet and approximately 9,000 U.S. troops. During the regional uprisings of 2011, Bahrain experienced major protests in February and March that drew approximately 150,000 participants at their peak, more than 10 percent of the population. A mass strike included 80 percent of the workforce. The protests challenged political repression experienced by the majority-Shia population. The Bahraini government suppressed the demonstrations with support from troops from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. The United States criticized the crackdown but maintained its strategic relationship with the Bahraini government.
During the current war, protests have again emerged in Bahrain despite restrictions on public dissent. Demonstrations have expressed opposition to the U.S. military presence and solidarity with Iran. Authorities have reportedly arrested at least 65 protesters, including individuals posting about the war on social media. As Iranian strikes have targeted sites in Bahrain, including the Fifth Fleet headquarters, protesters have linked the presence of U.S. forces to increased security risks. Protests also took place in 2024 opposing Bahrain’s normalization of relations with Israel and the continued presence of the Fifth Fleet.
Qatar hosts the largest U.S. military base in the region at Al Udeid Air Base, which houses approximately 10,000 U.S. personnel and includes components of U.S. Central Command. The base was constructed in the 1990s after a defense agreement following the Gulf War. It was used in U.S. bombing campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq and more recently in operations involving Yemen and coordination with Israel during the 12-day war on Iran. Iran has targeted the base during both the current war and earlier fighting in June.
The source material also describes diplomatic ties between Qatar and Donald Trump. It states that Qatar drafted the “Trump peace plan” for Gaza, described as rejecting Palestinian representation or self-determination, and notes that Trump has visited Qatari officials at Al Udeid at least twice. Qatar has also worked to secure investment agreements, defense partnerships, and energy deals involving the United States. When Israel attacked Hamas officials involved in ceasefire negotiations in Qatar in September 2025, Trump provided a security guarantee and later issued an executive order promising to defend Qatar against another attack.
Trump’s public statements regarding Iran have shifted repeatedly. On Saturday, he warned that if Iran did not reopen the Strait of Hormuz within 48 hours, the United States would strike Iranian energy infrastructure. He said the U.S. would hit and obliterate “their various POWER PLANTS, STARTING WITH THE BIGGEST ONE FIRST!” By Monday morning, Trump stated that the threat was no longer necessary because discussions were underway. In a Truth Social post, he said the United States and Iran had “VERY GOOD AND PRODUCTIVE CONVERSATIONS” regarding a “COMPLETE AND TOTAL RESOLUTION OF OUR HOSTILITIES IN THE MIDDLE EAST.” He added that he would postpone “ANY AND ALL MILITARY STRIKES AGAINST IRANIAN POWER PLANTS AND ENERGY INFRASTRUCTURE FOR A FIVE DAY PERIOD, SUBJECT TO THE SUCCESS OF THE ONGOING MEETINGS AND DISCUSSIONS.”
Iranian officials disputed Trump’s claims. Iran parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said, “No negotiations have been held with the U.S., and fake news is used to manipulate the financial and oil markets and escape the quagmire in which the U.S. and Israel are trapped.” Iran’s Fars news agency also reported that there had been no “direct or indirect” contact between the countries.
Trump provided additional comments when speaking to reporters, stating that the Strait of Hormuz would be “jointly controlled.” When asked who would control the waterway, Trump said, “Maybe me. Me and the ayatollah, whoever the next ayatollah is.” He also said, “There will also be a very serious form of regime change.” He concluded, “Look at Venezuela.”
The expansion of Iranian retaliation and the continued targeting of U.S. bases underscore how deeply embedded American military infrastructure has become in the Middle East. The presence of these bases has shaped alliances, influenced domestic political dynamics, and affected how conflicts spread across the region. As Iran continues to strike sites connected to U.S. operations and Gulf governments maintain their security partnerships with Washington, tensions remain between ruling authorities and populations that have historically opposed foreign military presence.
“No negotiations have been held with the U.S., and fake news is used to manipulate the financial and oil markets and escape the quagmire in which the U.S. and Israel are trapped.”
COMMENTS