While US President Donald Trump has warned that if deemed necessary, intervention in Iran will be undertaken, a recent step has further raised suspicions that a US attack on Iran could happen very soon.
Personnel at a US military base in Qatar were ordered to leave by Wednesday evening, three diplomats told Reuters.
Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi has warned that his country will defend itself against "evil and foreign interference", while Tehran had previously warned that in the event of US intervention, it would attack US military bases in the region.
Ahead of the US strikes on Iran in June, some personnel were moved from US bases in the Middle East. Meanwhile, flight tracking data from FlightRadar24 showed an increase in operational activity at Al Udeid Air Base, according to media reports.
The US maintains a significant military presence in the Middle East, including numerous naval assets and permanent and temporary bases in at least 19 countries in the region. Trump has recently been considering whether the US should intervene in Iran, where the most intense anti-government protests and unrest in years are taking place.
In recent days, the country has been isolated from the rest of the world, with the internet down for nearly 100 hours and the regime carrying out a brutal crackdown on protests. The death toll from the protests in Iran has reached 2,571, the US-based human rights group HRANA said on Monday (14/1).
Meanwhile, the death toll from protests in Iran has risen to nearly 2,600, a human rights group said, as the theocratic regime seeks to suppress nationwide protests, which pose one of the biggest challenges to its rule since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
The base is located about 35 kilometers southwest of Doha, the capital of Qatar, and is home to more than 10,000 American soldiers and is the largest American base in the Middle East, with a 4,500-meter runway capable of accommodating large military aircraft, such as B-52 bombers and transport aircraft.
