US Approves Qatar to Establish Air Force Training Center at Idaho Base

US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has announced that the United States and Qatar have signed a letter of agreement to build a Qatari Emiri Air Force facility at a US Air Force base in the western US state of Idaho.

The announcement on Friday came during a meeting between Hegseth and Qatari Defence Minister Sheikh Saoud bin Abdulrahman Al Thani at the Pentagon.

Hegseth praised Qatar’s role in helping to mediate Gaza ceasefire talks, with an initial phase of a deal between Israel and Hamas going into effect on Friday.

“No one other than President [Donald] Trump could have achieved the peace that we believe will be a lasting peace in Gaza, and Qatar played a substantial role from the beginning,” Hegseth said.

Defence Minister Sheikh Saoud also hailed the cooperation between Washington and Doha on the ceasefire breakthrough, which aims to end Israel’s two-year-long war in Gaza, which has killed at least 67,190 Palestinians.

The minister said the agreement showed what can be achieved when the US works with partners in the region, including Egypt and Turkiye, with “courage and trust”.

Hegseth then shifted his remarks to the Mountain Home Air Force Base in Idaho, which he said would host a contingent of Qatari F-15 fighter planes and pilots to “enhance our combined training, increase lethality, [and] interoperability”.

Ali al-Ansari, Qatar’s media attache to the US, later clarified that the facility “will not be a Qatari airbase”.

“Qatar has made an initial 10-year commitment to construct and maintain a dedicated facility within an existing US airbase” to offer “advanced training and to enhance interoperability in defending and advancing our shared interests around the world,” al-Ansari said in a statement.

“The arrangement is similar to existing programs between the United States and several of its international allies,” al-Ansari said, adding that the project “will lead to wide-ranging benefits including the creation of hundreds of jobs for Americans during both the construction and maintenance phases” of the site.

Several European countries, as well as Singapore, Turkiye and NATO, have similar facilities in the US.

Qatar currently hosts the largest US Air Force base in the Middle East, the Al Udeid airbase. Qatar was also named a major non-NATO ally by former US President Joe Biden in 2022.

While working as a mediator to end the war in Gaza, Qatar has twice been targeted in attacks by foreign countries. In June, Iran launched an air strike on Al Udeid, hitting a communications dome. Tehran did not hit any other sites in Qatar outside of the US base.

In September, Israel attacked a neighbourhood in Qatar where a Hamas negotiating delegation was meeting. Among those killed was a member of Qatar’s internal security force.

Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani condemned the attack as “state terrorism”. President Trump also criticised Israel for carrying out the attack on Qatari soil.

Weeks later, Trump signed an executive order stating that Washington “shall regard any armed attack on the territory, sovereignty, or critical infrastructure of the State of Qatar as a threat to the peace and security of the United States”.

“In the event of such an attack, the United States shall take all lawful and appropriate measures – including diplomatic, economic, and, if necessary, military – to defend the interests of the United States and of the State of Qatar and to restore peace and stability,” his statement said.