Pete Hegseth, the U.S. war secretary, announced on Friday that Qatar will gain access to facilities at a U.S. military base in Idaho.
Sitting next to Qatar’s deputy prime minister, Saoud bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, at a signing ceremony, Hegseth—whose title U.S. President Donald Trump recently changed from U.S. defense secretary—thanked the Qataris for their role in negotiating the Gaza ceasefire deal.
“I’m also proud that today we’re signing a letter of acceptance to build a Qatar Emiri Air Force facility at the Mountain Home Air Base in Idaho,” Hegseth said. “The location will host a contingent of Qatari F-15s and pilots to enhance our combined training, increase lethality, inter-operability.”
“It’s just another example of our partnership, and I hope you know, your excellency, that you can count on us,” the U.S. official said.
The deal is the latest defense agreement between Washington and Doha after Trump issued a security guarantee to the Gulf state in September.
That move followed Israel’s airstrike targeting Hamas leaders in Qatar that killed five members of the terrorist group and one Qatari security officer.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the Qatari emir that he was deeply sorry for the strike during a phone call at the White House alongside Trump.
Washington and many others have described the call as an apology, although some supporters of the Israeli premier say that it was a statement rather than an apology.
Politico reported that Netanyahu “read an apology drafted by the White House with input from Qatar” and that “a powerful Qatari interlocutor and close ally of the country’s prime minister was in the Oval Office during the call to ensure that Netanyahu didn’t deviate publicly from the White House-crafted version of events.” The Israeli prime minister’s office denied that reporting.
Qatar’s pilots and F-15s will join two U.S. Air Force F-15 squadrons at Mountain Home Air Base, as well as a Singaporean squadron that is hosted at the facility.
