AhlulBayt News Agency (ABNA): The Financial Times, noting that the U.S. military presence in the Middle East over the past four decades has relied heavily on military bases in Persian Gulf countries, reported that Iran's attacks on aircraft hangars, supply lines, radar systems, and U.S. command centers have raised serious questions about the effectiveness of this military model.
According to the Financial Times, the proximity of many of these bases to Iran's coast makes them vulnerable to short-range missiles and drones.
The report stated that the Pentagon is moving toward a more dispersed and flexible deployment pattern, where forces and fighter jets are stationed in smaller, temporary facilities rather than concentrated in large bases. According to experts interviewed by the Financial Times, this approach could make it more difficult for the enemy to detect and target U.S. forces.
The Financial Times also referred to an estimate by the American Enterprise Institute, which assessed the cost of repairing damage to 11 U.S. bases in seven Middle Eastern countries at about $5 billion.
During the attacks, the United States transferred some of its forces and equipment to areas such as Israel, Jordan, and even the remote island of Diego Garcia to keep them out of range of Iran's short-range missiles and drones.
The newspaper further emphasized that reducing the U.S. military presence in the Persian Gulf is not merely a military decision, and will have wide-ranging political and security consequences for Washington and its Arab allies. On one hand, the United States faces the vulnerability of fixed bases and the high cost of rebuilding them, and on the other hand, it does not want the reduction of forces to be interpreted as a withdrawal from the region or abandonment of its allies.
According to this report, approximately 35,000 U.S. military personnel are rotationally stationed at bases in Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain, Qatar, and Kuwait, and some former U.S. defense experts suggest that this number may decrease to levels not seen since before the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003.
This trend is being pursued simultaneously with Washington's efforts to reduce its presence in the Middle East and focus more on the Pacific region.
In another part of its report, the Financial Times examined the roots of the U.S. military presence in the Persian Gulf, noting that this presence took on a more extensive form after the events of 1979 within the framework of the "Carter Doctrine."
Under this doctrine, the United States committed to not allowing a hostile power to control the Persian Gulf and would use military force to prevent it.
The newspaper concluded by citing an assessment by Gregory Brew, a historian and analyst at the Eurasia Group, who said, "The Carter Doctrine appears to have collapsed"; because in his view, in the current situation, the war with Iran has seriously challenged the very military structure that the United States established in the region to implement the Carter Doctrine.
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