New satellite images show Iran’s attack on a US military base in Qatar in June hit a dome housing equipment used for secure communications.
Hours after the Associated Press published an analysis of the photos, Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell acknowledged an Iranian ballistic missile hit the dome.
Qatar did not respond to requests for comment about the damage.
How Iranian strikes against the US Al Udeid air base in Qatar unfolded
Tehran attacked Al Udeid Air Base outside of Qatar’s capital Doha on June 23 in response to the US bombing three nuclear sites in Iran.
The strike also provided the Islamic Republic with a way to retaliate which quickly led to a ceasefire, brokered by US President Donald Trump, that ended the 12-day Iran-Israel war.
The Iranian attack otherwise did little damage — likely because the US evacuated its aircraft from the base, which is home to the forward headquarters of the US military’s Central Command, before the attack.
Mr Trump also said Iran had signalled when and how it would retaliate, allowing US and Qatari air defences to be ready for the attack, which briefly disrupted air travel in the Middle East, but otherwise did not spark a regional war long feared by analysts.
Satellite images show attack destroyed dome
Satellite images from Planet Labs PBC show the geodesic dome intact at the Al Udeid Air Base on the morning of June 23, just hours before the attack.
This satellite image shows the geodesic dome intact before the attack. (AP: Planet Labs PBC )
The photo shows a satellite dish inside of the dome, known as a radome.
But images taken on June 25 and every day since show the dome is gone, with some damage visible on a nearby building.
The rest of the base appears largely untouched in the images.
The dome is missing from satellite photos taken after the strike. (AP: Planet Labs PBC)
In a statement, Mr Parnell said the missile strike “did minimal damage to equipment and structures on the base”.
“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,” he said.
The London-based satellite news channel Iran International first reported on the damage, citing satellite photos taken by a different provider.
Trump downplayed attack while Iran boasted about it
The White House had no immediate comment after Mr Parnell’s acknowledgement.
After the attack, Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard said the air base had been the “target of a destructive and powerful missile attack”.
Iran’s Supreme National Security Council also said the base had been “smashed”, without offering any specific damage assessments.
Potentially signalling that he knew the dome had been hit, an adviser to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei separately said the attack disconnected the base’s communications.
“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,” Ahmad Alamolhoda, a hard-line cleric, said.
However, Mr Trump described the Iranian attack as a “very weak response”.
He said Tehran fired 14 missiles, with 13 intercepted and one being “set free” because it was going in a “non-threatening” direction.
“I want to thank Iran for giving us early notice, which made it possible for no lives to be lost, and nobody to be injured,” he wrote on his website Truth Social.
Mr Trump visited Al Udeid Air Base on May 15 as part of his Middle East tour.
AP
