Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine revealed that the military successfully beat back Iran’s retaliatory strikes on America’s Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar in the “largest single Patriot engagement in US military history.”
Caine said the military was even able to conduct the successful mission with “a minimum force posture.”
Having anticipated retaliation from Iran over President Trump’s weekend strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities, the US moved personnel out of Al Udeid, the largest US base in the Middle East.
“We assumed a minimum force posture. Most folks had moved off the base to extend the security perimeter out away from what we assessed might be a target zone,” Caine said during a Thursday press briefing.
“The oldest soldier was a 28-year-old captain. The youngest was a 21-year-old private who’d been in the military for less than two years,” he said of the soldiers who remained on the base.
Caine called the defense by the US and Qatar the “largest single Patriot engagement in US military history.”
“They absolutely crushed it,” he continued.
It comes after President Trump had revealed earlier this week that Iran had given the US “early notice” of its plans to launch the attack on the US airbase – a move he called a “very weak response.”
“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,” Trump wrote on Truth Social at the time. “Perhaps Iran can now proceed to Peace and Harmony in the Region, and I will enthusiastically encourage Israel to do the same.”
He confirmed that Iran had fired 14 missiles at the air base, calling it “a very weak response, which we expected, and have very effectively countered.”
“I am pleased to report that NO Americans were harmed and hardly any damage was done,” Trump wrote. “Most importantly, they’ve gotten it all out of their ‘system,’ and there will, hopefully, be no further HATE,” Trump added.
Iran had launched the missiles toward the Al Udeid Air Base late Monday after vowing to retaliate for the bombing of Iran’s three nuclear sites at Fordow, Isfahan and Natanz over the weekend.
Trump has repeatedly hailed the strikes a success, saying the missiles “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear program.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Thursday he was unaware of any intelligence suggesting Iran had been able to move its highly enriched uranium ahead of the attacks.
“I’m not aware of any intelligence that I’ve reviewed that says things were not where they were supposed to be, moved or otherwise,” Hegseth said.
