US Senator Chris Murphy Accuses Pentagon of Blocking Qatar Military Base Visit

Democratic US Senator Chris Murphy stated on Tuesday that the Pentagon prevented him from visiting Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar during his Middle East tour, calling it an effort to conceal the impact of the Iran war.

Al Udeid serves as the largest US base in the region and has faced repeated attacks by Iran during the conflict initiated by the US and Israel in February.

“This trip confirmed for me that there is an active, unprecedented, unconstitutional effort under way to hide the costs of this war and the implications of this war from Congress and the American people,” Mr Murphy told journalists in Riyadh, his second stop, according to Reuters. The Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Mr Murphy added that the Pentagon refused to arrange a briefing for him regarding the war while he was in the region. “I've never encountered anything like this in my time in the Senate and it's part of a deliberate campaign of obfuscation that my Republican colleagues in Congress should demand an end to,” he said.

The Connecticut senator has shared multiple updates about his Middle East journey, noting he is the first Democrat to visit the area since the war began. In Riyadh, Mr Murphy reported hearing alerts triggered by incoming Houthi missiles. “This is now a full-blown regional war – just as every expert predicted if the US attacked Iran,” he posted on X.

Mr Murphy also visited the US embassy in Riyadh to inspect damage from an early-war drone attack. “If the attack had happened during the day, it would have been a mass-casualty event,” he wrote on X.

Despite criticizing the Pentagon, Mr Murphy noted that Secretary of State Marco Rubio facilitated his trip by helping organize meetings with diplomats. Throughout the journey, he met with Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, and other leading Gulf officials.