Pentagon
chief Hegseth announces Qatari Air Force facility at Idaho base
The US
and Qatar have signed a letter of agreement to bring a Qatari F-15 fighter jet
contingent to a US military base.
By Al
Jazeera Staff
Published
On 10 Oct 2025
10 Oct
2025
US
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has announced that the United States and
Qatar have signed a letter of agreement to build a Qatari Emiri Air Force
facility at a US Air Force base in the western US state of Idaho.
The
announcement on Friday came during a meeting between Hegseth and Qatari Defence
Minister Sheikh Saoud bin Abdulrahman Al Thani at the Pentagon.
Hegseth
praised Qatar’s role in helping to mediate Gaza ceasefire talks, with an
initial phase of a deal between Israel and Hamas going into effect on Friday.
“No one
other than President [Donald] Trump could have achieved the peace that we
believe will be a lasting peace in Gaza, and Qatar played a substantial role
from the beginning,” Hegseth said.
Defence
Minister Sheikh Saoud also hailed the cooperation between Washington and Doha
on the ceasefire breakthrough, which aims to end Israel’s two-year-long war in
Gaza, which has killed at least 67,190 Palestinians.
The
minister said the agreement showed what can be achieved when the US works with
partners in the region, including Egypt and Turkiye, with “courage and trust”.
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Hegseth
then shifted his remarks to the Mountain Home Air Force Base in Idaho, which he
said would host a contingent of Qatari F-15 fighter planes and pilots to
“enhance our combined training, increase lethality, [and] interoperability”.
Ali
al-Ansari, Qatar’s media attache to the US, later clarified that the facility
“will not be a Qatari airbase”.
“Qatar
has made an initial 10-year commitment to construct and maintain a dedicated
facility within an existing US airbase” to offer “advanced training and to
enhance interoperability in defending and advancing our shared interests around
the world,” al-Ansari said in a statement.
“The
arrangement is similar to existing programs between the United States and
several of its international allies,” al-Ansari said, adding that the project
“will lead to wide-ranging benefits including the creation of hundreds of jobs
for Americans during both the construction and maintenance phases” of the site.
Several
European countries, as well as Singapore, Turkiye and NATO, have similar
facilities in the US.
Qatar
currently hosts the largest US Air Force base in the Middle East, the Al Udeid
airbase. Qatar was also named a major non-NATO ally by former US President Joe
Biden in 2022.
While
working as a mediator to end the war in Gaza, Qatar has twice been targeted in
attacks by foreign countries. In June, Iran launched an air strike on Al Udeid,
hitting a communications dome. Tehran did not hit any other sites in Qatar
outside of the US base.
In
September, Israel attacked a neighbourhood in Qatar where a Hamas negotiating
delegation was meeting. Among those killed was a member of Qatar’s internal
security force.
Qatari
Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani condemned the
attack as “state terrorism”. President Trump also criticised Israel for
carrying out the attack on Qatari soil.
Weeks
later, Trump signed an executive order stating that Washington “shall regard
any armed attack on the territory, sovereignty, or critical infrastructure of
the State of Qatar as a threat to the peace and security of the United States”.
“In the
event of such an attack, the United States shall take all lawful and
appropriate measures – including diplomatic, economic, and, if necessary,
military – to defend the interests of the United States and of the State of
Qatar and to restore peace and stability,” his statement said.
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