After weeks of Iranian missile and drone attacks exposed the vulnerability of major U.S.military bases across the Gulf, the Pentagon is weighing whether decades of relying on large, permanent installations within range of Iranian weapons still makes strategic sense.Defense officials are considering dispersing some capabilities and reassessing parts of the U.S.
regional base posture, according to a Wall Street Journal report.The Gulf base network is how the U.S.responds quickly to Iran, protects shipping lanes, reassures Arab partners and keeps pressure on ISIS and al Qaeda.
If the Pentagon reduces or disperses that footprint, it could make U.S.forces harder to hit — but also slower to surge in a crisis.For decades, the tradeoff was straightforward: the closer U.S.
forces were to the fight, the faster they could respond.But Operation Epic Fury reignited a long-running debate over whether concentrating aircraft, ships, command centers and thousands of troops at a handful of large Gulf bases had become an increasingly dangerous liability in an era of precision missiles and drones.U.S.
troops react as President Donald Trump walks to deliver remarks, near a banner reading, "Peace Through Strength", during a visit to Al Udeid Air Base in Doha, Qatar, May 15, 2025.(Brian Snyder/REUTERS)REPUBLICANS BREAK WITH TRUMP TO REBUKE IRAN WAR — BUT IT WON'T CHANGE POLICYRetired Navy Rear Adm.
Mark Montgomery said the military already has started relying more heavily on alternate command-and-control locations — the headquarters and communications hubs commanders use to direct military operations — and rotating forces rather than concentrating capabilities at a handful of installations close to Iran. "We're not relying on them in the same way that we did before the war," Montgomery told Fox News Digital."I think we are going to reposition these forces."The Pentagon has spent decades building a network of Gulf bases designed to put aircraft, ships and troops within minut...