&imwidth=800&imheight=600&format=webp&quality=medium "Are US bases in Gulf 'not viable' after Iran attack? Ex-CIA chief Petraeus makes BIG claim")
Former CIA Director David Petraeus in an interview has claimed that the United States bases in the eastern Gulf states is ”no longer viable.” He said that both the maintainence and functioning of the US bases have been affected. In an interview with Global Gambit, the retired Army general cited Iran’s attacks on US bases, saying the military locations and critical infrastructure were used as “leverage.” He also claimed that America has used “perhaps half of our missile interceptors” in the Iran conflict. He urged the Trump administration to shift to inexpensive drones and learn from Ukraine.
“We need to learn from the Ukrainians, who are using 10,000 cheap drones per day. The exchange that they’re getting for those is absolutely massive. Ukrainians have hit all these oil storage and refinery capabilities. They’ve hit every single refinery within 3,000 kilometers of Ukraine,” he said. Petraeus added that the cost the US incurred by shooting an expensive missile interceptor to take down a $50,000 Iranian drone “is obviously not one that is sustainable.”
Petraeus did not specify exactly which bases are not “viable.” Iran has targeted several US bases and facilities in West Asia in recent months. The long list includes the Marine Corps site, King Hussein Base, Prince Hassan Air Base, and Al Azraq Base, all in Jordan. Others include Ahmed Al Jaber Air Base and Ali Al Salem Air Base in Kuwait, as well as the Navy Fifth Fleet assets at the Sheikh Isa Air Base in Bahrain. Also hit were Al Minhad Air Base and Al Dhafra Air Base in the UAE, Al-Udeid Air Base in Qatar—the largest U.S. installation in the region—and facilities and warehouses in Erbil, Iraq.
Meanwhile, an Axios report said that the Trump administration is looking beyond the war and working on a broad plan that could reshape the US approach to the region after the war ends. It includes expansion of Abraham Accord. Trump has privately told people that he is working on "something much bigger" for the Middle East once the war with Iran is over. This comes even as US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth warned Iran that the US will destroy and sink Iranian oil tankers if Tehran attacks US Navy ships, saying, “All they have to do is not shoot at” the US Navy, as tensions between Washington and Tehran intensified across the region.
