What military assets does the US have in the Middle East?

Washington is ramping up rhetoric threatening strikes against Iran, with Donald Trump saying this week that a "massive armada" was heading towards the Islamic republic. 

Tehran, as well as some of its allied groups, have threatened retaliation against US bases in the region in the event of an attack.

In addition to reinforcements being deployed in recent days, the Middle East is already host to tens of thousands of American troops as well as key air, naval and training bases. 

Middle East Eye takes a look at American assets in the region.

The US has at least 19 sites - eight of which are considered to be permanent - across the Middle East, according to the Council on Foreign Relations. 

It has a military presence in Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Oman and the UAE. 

In Turkey and Djibouti, the US maintains large military bases that serve different regional commands, but contribute to activities in the Middle East. 

Bahrain (hosting 9,000 American troops) is where the US navy’s fifth fleet is headquartered, with responsibility over the Gulf, Red Sea, Arabian Sea and some of the Indian Ocean. 

Al-Udeid airbase in Qatar, in the desert on the outskirts of Doha, is the tactical headquarters of the US Central Command, also known as Centcom. Centcom’s area of responsibility is not just the Middle East, but also parts of Central and South Asia. 

Al-Udeid is the largest American base in the region, hosting roughly 10,000 troops. 

Kuwait, meanwhile, hosts Camp Arifjan. That is the name of the tactical (or forward) headquarters of the US Army Central - a military formation that serves as the army component for Centcom. 

Ali al-Salem air base, known as “The Rock” for its isolated environment, is also in Kuwait, along the Iraqi border. 

Another Kuwait base is Camp Buehring, which has been a staging post for units heading to Iraq and Syria. In total, around 13,500 US troops are stationed in Kuwait. 

The UAE is home to 3,500 US troops, as well as al-Dhafra airbase, a site shared between Washington and the Emiratis.

It has been used during missions against the Islamic State group, as well as for reconnaissance missions in the region. 

The American presence in Iraq includes the Ain al-Asad airbase in Anbar - a site that was targeted by Iranian missiles after the US assassination of Qassem Soleimani, the senior Iranian general.

There’s also the Erbil airbase in the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region, which is used for training exercises.

Around 2,700 American troops are stationed in Saudi Arabia, providing air and missile defence capabilities. The Prince Sultan airbase, near the capital Riyadh, is a major air force hub where assets include Patriot missile batteries. 

For its missions in the Levant, Muwaffaq Salti airbase in Jordan’s Azraq is the key hub. It hosts the US’s 332nd Air Expeditionary Wing.

There are around 3,800 US troops in Jordan, 2,500 in Iraq and 2,000 in Syria.

Further afield in Turkey, the major base run jointly with Turkish forces is the Incirlik airbase in southern Adana. That base reportedly hosts American nuclear warheads. 

What US assets have recently been brought in?

The numbers of US bases, troops and the military hardware have changed in recent months and years depending on shifting regional priorities. 

Currently, there are around 40,000 American troops in the Middle East, according to defence officials. 

Around a quarter of them are in al-Udeid, which hosts combat aircraft, tankers, aerial refuelling and intelligence assets. The next largest base in terms of personnel is thought to be the naval base in Bahrain. 

At the beginning of Trump’s second term, several warships left the region to support US activities domestically and in other arenas. However, naval reinforcements are now being sent to the Middle East.

The centrepiece of that power projection is the deployment of the USS Abraham Lincoln, which has left the South China Sea and has now entered the Arabian Sea to serve the Centcom area. 

The Abraham Lincoln is a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier. Its carrier strike group includes Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyers equipped with Tomahawk cruise missiles. These are capable of striking deep into Iranian territory. 

How Trump's demands on Iran have shifted over time

Read More »

Also on board the vessel are multiple squadrons of fighter and strike aircraft, electronic warfare and radar-jamming aircraft, helicopters and stealth fighter jets. 

There are 5,680 crew members on board the USS Abraham Lincoln. 

The vessel is joining a naval picket already in the region, including the USS McFaul and USS Mitscher in the Centcom area, and USS Roosevelt in the Mediterranean Sea. 

According to a US navy official cited by The War Zone, the USS Delbert D Black, a guided missile destroyer, has also joined the Centcom forces. 

But it’s not just naval reinforcements - aircraft are arriving in the region too. 

Flight trackers show that US Air Force RC-135W Rivet Joint aircraft - specialised in monitoring electronic emissions and tracking radar and communications networks - landed in Qatar in recent days. 

Israeli media also reported the deployment of American forces and hardware within striking distance of Iran. 

"In addition to the naval response, the US military is preparing to reinforce its ground-based defences as well, with a THAAD air defence battery expected to arrive in the coming days," Israel's Channel 13 reported. 

Open-source flight tracking also shows the build up a squadron of F-15 warplanes at Muwaffaq Salti airbase in Jordan.

The War Zone additionally reported that there were signals to suggest several other airborne capabilities potentially heading to the Middle East. 

These included six US Navy EA-18G Growler electronic warfare jets which have left the Caribbean and are headed across the Atlantic to an as yet unclear destination.

These can be used for support in electronic warfare as well as to penetrate air defences. 

Can any regional US base be used in an attack on Iran?

US bases in the region should not be able to be used to attack Iranian territory.

The UAE has said that it will not allow for the use of its territory, airspace or waters for any “hostile military actions” against Iran.

In a phone call with the Iranian president, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman affirmed that Saudi Arabia would not allow its airspace or territory to be used against Iran either. 

MEE reported that the US is trying to get Riyadh to change its mind and back strikes on Iran.

While the UAE and Saudi Arabia have not been directly targeted by Iran in the past, both have faced missile and drone strikes from Yemen’s Houthi movement - a close ally of Iran.

Qatar, Oman and Turkey have also lobbied Washington against taking military action against Iran.

Turkish security forces arrested a cell working for Iranian intelligence that attempted to spy on the US airbase at Incirlik, it was reported earlier this week.

Following the US’s first ever attack on Iranian territory - the strikes on three nuclear facilities in June last year - Tehran retaliated by attacking al-Udeid airbase. 

It was a highly choreographed attack, with Iran giving the US an indirect warning by notifying Qatar.

Doha and Washington were able to prepare well in advance, using Patriot surface-to-air missile batteries to shoot down the ballistic missiles. 

Qatar will be wary of a repeat retaliatory attack on its territory. 

While Doha hasn’t recently commented on use of its airspace, MEE reported in April that Qatar joined Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the UAE in imposing a ban on the use of their airfields or skies for an attack on Iran. 

That even includes a purported ban on refuelling or rescue operations from those territories - as Gulf states fear being dragged into wider conflict. 

Yemen’s Houthis, officially known as Ansar Allah, said they would resume attacks on vessels in the Red Sea in the event of a US attack on Iran, while Iran-backed paramilitaries in Iraq have also threatened retaliation against the Americans. 

That could bring bases in Iraq or Jordan into the crossfire. 

In January 2024, a drone strike blamed on an Iraqi armed group killed three US soldiers and wounded more than 40 at a desert outpost on Jordan’s border with Iraq.