US evacuates some personnel from Qatar air base amid Trump threat to strike Iran
Iran's Defense Minister Aziz Nasirzadeh warned Tuesday that Tehran will retaliate for any attacks on the country.
WASHINGTON — The US military has begun evacuating some of its personnel from Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar as President Donald Trump weighs potential military strikes against Iran's government, two officials briefed on the matter told Al-Monitor.
The temporary departure began after Trump convened with top national security advisers on Tuesday to discuss courses of action, one of the sources said. The president has repeatedly threatened to strike at Iran's government if its security forces use violence against protesters amid a broad public uprising that has demanded an end to clerical rule.
Yet Trump has been evasive about what specific actions may trigger him to order a US military strike. On Tuesday, the president told CBS News he may order "very strong action" if the Islamic Republic goes through with the hanging of at least one protester, reportedly planned for Wednesday. Earlier that day, he urged Iranians to continue protesting and “take over” the country’s institutions if possible, saying “help is on its way.”
Qatar's government media office confirmed the partial evacuation of Al Udeid Air Base “in response to the current regional tensions.”
It was not immediately clear how many American personnel would evacuate the base. The US has evacuated a limited number of "non-essential" personnel from the facilities ahead of prior confrontations with Iran.
Iran's Defense Minister Aziz Nasirzadeh warned Tuesday that the Iranian military will retaliate for any attacks on the country. "If these threats are turned into action, we will defend the country with full force and until the last drop of blood, and our defense would be painful to them," Nasirzadeh said after meeting with Iranian lawmakers.
The US military remains without an aircraft carrier in the Middle East, limiting the Pentagon’s ability to contain potential second- and third-order cycles of retaliation with Iran and its proxies.
The last US aircraft carrier to transit the region, the USS Gerald R. Ford, remains in the Caribbean since the White House ordered a buildup of military forces near Venezuela last year.
The Ford has not been ordered to deploy back to the Middle East, the US Navy's top admiral suggested on Wednesday. It is due to return to home port in Norfolk, Virginia at the end of January, at the end of a seven-month deployment. The Pentagon's Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Daryl Caudle told an audience in Virginia on Wednesday he would recommend against sending the Ford back towards Iran if requested, citing pressing maintenance and personnel needs.
Still, the president is likely to retain a bevy of options ranging from influence operations and cyberattacks to strikes on Iranian security forces’ facilities, Al-Monitor previously reported.
At least three US Navy destroyers remain in Middle Eastern waters, which together can deliver scores of precision-guided Tomahawk land attack cruise missiles deep into Iranian territory. Three US Navy Littoral Combat Ships are also in the region. US F-15s recently arrived in-theatre on what military officials described as a regular rotation.
Reuters reported Tuesday that Iran warned neighboring countries in the Gulf that US bases on their territory could be targeted if Iran comes under attack by the US.
Despite damage inflicted by Israeli warplanes during the brief Iran-Israel war in June 2025, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps still retains an arsenal of ballistic missiles that can reach the Arabian Peninsula.
Iran previously targeted Al Udeid in June 2025 with a barrage of mid- and short-range ballistic missiles in retaliation for surprise US air and naval strikes on key Iranian nuclear facilities. Top Pentagon officials credited Patriot missile battery operators with thwarting that attack.
Al Udeid is US Central Command's (CENTCOM) forward headquarters in the Middle East. The base is estimated to house roughly 10,000 American personnel at any given time, according to the Pentagon's official numbers, along with military staff from Qatar and other regional countries. CENTCOM's multinational air headquaters, known as the Combined Air Operations Center, hosts staff from 17 nations at Al Udeid, the command said Tuesday.
A spokesperson for CENTCOM declined to comment on the partial evacuation Wednesday.
This is a developing story and has been updated.
