Satellite photos suggest Iran attack on Qatar air base hit geodesic dome used for US communications
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Satellite images from Planet Labs PBC show the geodesic dome visible at the Al Udeid Air Base on the morning of June 23, just hours before the attack. The U.S. Air Force's 379th Air Expeditionary Wing, which operates out of the base, in 2016 announced the installation of the $15 million piece of equipment, known as a modernized enterprise terminal. Photos show of it show a satellite dish inside of the dome, known as a radome.
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Images taken June 25 and every day subsequently show the dome is gone, with some damage visible on a nearby building. The rest of the base appears largely untouched in the images.
It's possible a fragment or something else struck the dome, but given the destruction of the dome, it was likely an Iranian attack, possibly with a bomb-carrying drone given the limited visible damage to surrounding structures.
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
In the U.S., Trump described the Iranian attack as a 'very weak response.' He had said Tehran fired 14 missiles, with 13 intercepted and one being 'set free' as it was going in a 'nonthreatening' 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.
After the attack, Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard insisted the air base had been the 'target of a destructive and powerful missile attack.' Iran's Supreme National Security Council also claimed the base had been 'smashed,' without offering any specific damage assessments.
Potentially signaling he knew the dome had been hit, an adviser to Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei separately claimed the base's communications had been disconnected by the attack.
'All equipment of the base was completely destroyed and now the U.S. command stream and connection from Al Udeid base to its other military bases have been completely cut,' said Ahmad Alamolhoda, a hard-line cleric.
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Associated Press writer Nasser Karimi in Tehran, Iran, contributed to this report.
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