Are these US bases sitting ducks for Iran? Military assets on high alert after Trump strike

Iran on Sunday (June 23) threatened US military bases for launching attacks against the nation's nuclear facilities, saying such bases would be legitimate targets. US President Donald Trump on Saturday (Jun 21) announced a “very successful attack” on Iran's three nuclear sites, including Fordow, Natanz, and Esfahan. The US has thousands of troops stationed on bases throughout the Middle East. Let's take a look at nations with significant deployments of US troops in the Middle East, which come under the US military's Central Command (CENTCOM).

Bahrain

The small Gulf state is home to a facility called Naval Support Activity Bahrain, where the US Navy's Fifth Fleet and headquarters of US Naval Forces Central Command are stationed. The country's deepwater port is capable of hosting the largest US warships, including aircraft carriers, and the base has been used by the US Navy since 1948, when the facility was run by Britain's Royal Navy.

There are various US vessels that use Bahrain as their home port, such as four mine countermeasures and two logistics support ships. The US Coast Guard also has some vessels present in the country, consisting of six fast response cutters.

Also Read: US bases in Iraq on alert as intel hints at potential retaliation by Iran-backed militias: Report

Iraq

The United States has troops stationed at several installations in Iraq, such as the Al-Asad and Arbil air bases. Baghdad is an ally of Iran, but also a strategic ally of Tehran's bitter rival the United States. As per reports, there are approximately 2,500 American soldiers in Iraq as part of the global coalition fighting the Islamic State jihadist organisation. Baghdad and Washington have agreed to schedule the phasing out of the forces of the coalition from Iraq.

US troops in Syria and Iraq were targeted repeatedly by pro-Iran extremists after the Gaza war broke out in October 2023, but retaliated with punishing attacks on Tehran-aligned targets, and the attacks mostly ceased.

Kuwait

Kuwait has multiple US bases, such as Camp Arifjan, where the forward headquarters for the US Army element of CENTCOM is located. The US Army also prepositions materiel in the country. Ali al-Salem Air Base is home to the 386th Air Expeditionary Wing, which the military terms as the "primary airlift hub and gateway for delivering combat power to joint and coalition forces" in the theater. Furthermore, the United States operates drones such as MQ-9 Reapers in Kuwait.

Qatar

Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar features the forward elements of CENTCOM, as well as of its airmen and special ops men in the area. It also accommodates rotating combat aircraft, as well as the 379th Air Expeditionary Wing, which the military claims consists of "airlift, aerial refueling intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance, and aeromedical evacuation assets."

Syria

The United States has had troop presences for years at a chain of bases in Syria as part of the international campaign against the Islamic State group, which emerged from Syria's civil war to capture vast swaths of Syria and neighboring Iraq. The Pentagon revealed in April that it would cut approximately in half its troops in the nation to under 1,000 in the next few months as part of a "consolidation" of US forces in the nation.

United Arab Emirates

The US 380th Air Expeditionary Wing, a force that consists of 10 aircraft squadrons and also has UAVs like MQ-9 Reapers, is headquartered at Al Dhafra Air Base in the UAE. Fighting aircraft have cycled through Al Dhafra, which also has the Gulf Air Warfare Center for air and missile defense training.

Meanwhile, Arab governments sounded alarm on Sunday following the US attacks on three Iranian nuclear facilities overnight, and they called for immediate de-escalation amid concerns of being battlegrounds in an rising confrontation.

Persian Gulf nations like the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, who may have previously hailed the destruction of Iran's nuclear program by military means, instead condemned the American interference. Saudi Arabia condemned the infringement of Iran's sovereignty, and the UAE voiced “deep concern.” Governments from the area requested increased efforts at brokering an end to the fighting before the region becomes lost in "the horrors and dangers of war," Bahrain warned. And Oman, a seasoned diplomatic middleman between Iran and the United States, said, "The measures taken by the United States risk broadening the conflict's scope and involve a grave breach of international law."