New before and after photos show key differences of US air base after Iran strikes as Pentagon explains impact
Topics: Iran, Israel, US News, Donald Trump, Politics
Britt Jones
Featured Image Credit: Planet Labs PBC
Topics: Iran, Israel, US News, Donald Trump, Politics
The conflict in the Middle East has continued as the US Pentagon showed the impact of Iran’s missiles against a US airbase in Qatar.
Tensions are rising amid the US' attack against Iran on June 21, which claimed to have targeted three nuclear sites, including Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan in the country.
It all began when Donald Trump became involved in the conflict after Israel launched a large-scale attack on Iranian military and nuclear sites last month.
In retaliation, Iran rained missiles on the neighboring nation, with the attacks and ongoing retaliation believed to have killed almost 1,000 people so far.
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In a post on Truth Social, the president claimed of the US’s attack on Iran: "Monumental Damage was done to all nuclear sites in Iran, as shown by satellite images. Obliteration is an accurate term!"
Images were then released showing the Fordow nuclear site in satellite images caught by Maxar Technologies on June 20, before the missiles dropped.
It then showed the damage done in photos taken two days later, as the underground base was targeted, as it is said to have held Iran’s enriched uranium, which is used to create nuclear weapons.
However, Iran quickly remarked that it would retaliate against the US and swiftly targeted a US base in Qatar.
"The White House and the department of defence are aware of, and closely monitoring, potential threats," the US government said in a statement regarding the threat beforehand.
Thankfully, Qatar's air defences were able to intercept the missiles, and officials confirmed there were no casualties at Al Udeid.
Just before the explosions, Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian wrote on: “We neither initiated the war nor seeking it. But we will not leave invasion to the great Iran without answer.”
But now new satellite images show Iran's attack on the US military base, which is said to have hit a dome housing equipment used for secure communications to the nation.
Just after the Associated Press published an analysis of the photos, Pentagon spokesperson, Sean Parnell, confirmed that Iran’s ballistic missile hit the dome.
Satellite images from Planet Labs PBC show the dome just hours before the attack, but images taken on June 25 show that the dome is completely gone and there is some damage to a nearby building.
Parnell said the missile strike ‘did minimal damage to equipment and structures on the base’, stating: "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.”
After the attack, Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard said the airbase had been the ‘target of a destructive and powerful missile attack’, while Iran's Supreme National Security Council claimed the base had been ‘smashed’.
While many details were not handed out to the public, the advisor to the Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said the attack terminated the base's communications back to the US.
"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 said.
But Trump had other thoughts on this and called it a ‘weak response’, stating that Tehran fired 14 missiles, and 13 were intercepted and one was ‘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 Truth Social.