U.S. Protection Secretary Pete Hegseth and Qatar’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Protection Sheikh Saoud bin Abdulrahman al-Thani current a signed settlement as they meet on the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., U.S., October 10, 2025.
Ken Cedeno | Reuters
Protection Secretary Pete Hegseth on Friday introduced an settlement to construct a Qatari Emiri Air Drive facility at a U.S. Air Drive Base in Idaho.
Hegeth stated the ability on the Mountain Dwelling Air Drive Base will enable pilots from Qatar’s air drive to coach with American army personnel.
The Protection secretary made the announcement at a Pentagon press convention with Qatari Protection Minister Sheikh Saoud bin Abdulrahman Al Thani.
Hegseth stated the ability will “host a contingent a Qatari F-15’s and pilots to reinforce our mixed coaching, enhance lethality, interoperability, it is simply one other instance of our partnership.”
Qatar is a key U.S. ally within the Center East. The Al-Udeid Air Base, whose 10,000 or so service members make it the biggest American army set up within the Center East, is positioned in Qatar, close to the capital of Doha.
Laura Loomer, a right-wing activist who has affect with President Donald Trump, blasted the announcement.
“By no means thought I might see Republicans give terror financing Muslims from Qatar a MILITARY BASE on US soil to allow them to homicide Individuals,” Loomer wrote on X.
“I do not suppose I will be voting in 2026. I can not in good conscience make any excuses for the harboring of jihadis. That is the place I draw the road,” Loomer wrote.
Trump himself in 2017 stated, “The nation of Qatar, sadly, has traditionally been a funder of terrorism at a really excessive stage.” That remark got here throughout a dispute between Qatar and different Arab nations, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Bahrain, who had blockaded Qatar over claims that it had backed extremist Muslim teams.
Qatar has denied financing terrorists.
The Mountain Dwelling Air Drive Base presently has a contingent of F-15 fighter jets from Singapore’s air drive stationed there as a part of a coaching program for that nation’s pilots.
The Pentagon did not instantly reply to a request for touch upon Hegseth’s announcement.
The announcement is one other signal of the deepening of the connection between the Trump administration and Qatar.
In September, after Israel executed an airstrike on senior leaders of the Hamas terror group in Doha, Trump signed an government order “assuring the safety of the state of Qatar.”
Earlier this yr, the U.S accepted a Boeing 747 jet as a present from the Qatari royal household. Trump has stated he needs that jet, valued at $400 million, transformed to be used as Air Drive One, the presidential plane.
NBC Information has reported that the jet is predicted to be handed over to Trump’s future presidential library after he leaves the White Home in January 2029.
A Pentagon spokesperson informed CNBC that Hegseth accepted the luxurious aircraft “in accordance with all federal guidelines and laws.”
The reward drew criticism from Democrats and others who stated the jet seemed like a bribe to Trump.
Trump’s household enterprise has additionally been increasing its footprint within the Center East — together with a golf resort in Doha with Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund’s actual property arm, in addition to a Trump Worldwide Lodge & Tower in Dubai, a Trump Tower positioned in Jeddah, and a lodge that’s underneath development in Muscat.
