DOHA: Qatar said on Wednesday precautionary measures had been taken at the US-run Al Udeid Air Base, including the departure of some personnel, because of rising regional tensions, according to its International Media Office.
The office said the steps were part of broader efforts to safeguard the security of citizens and residents and to protect critical infrastructure and military facilities, adding that any further developments would be announced through official channels.
The development came as the US-based Wall Street Journal and CBS reported that the American military was evacuating some personnel from the air base as a precaution.
Earlier, a senior Iranian official told Reuters that Tehran had warned its neighbouring countries hosting US troops that it would retaliate against American bases if Washington carried out threats to intervene in protests in Iran.
The protest movement across Iran, initially sparked by economic grievances, has turned into one of the biggest challenges yet to the leadership since it took power in the 1979 revolution.
Trump has warned Iran of intervention over crackdown on protesters.
The Iranian official, a senior figure speaking on condition of anonymity, said Tehran had asked US allies in the region to “prevent Washington from attacking Iran”.
“Tehran has told regional countries, from Saudi Arabia and UAE to Turkiye, that US bases in those countries will be attacked” if the US targets Iran, the official said.
The official added that direct contacts between Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi and US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff had been suspended, reflecting mounting tensions.
The US embassy in Doha had no immediate comment.
There was no sign of a large-scale movement of troops off the base to a nearby soccer stadium and shopping mall, as took place last year in the hours before Iran targeted the base with missiles in retaliation for US airstrikes on Iranian nuclear targets.
According to an Israeli assessment, Trump has decided to intervene, although the scope and timing of this action remain unclear, an Israeli official said.
Separately, a senior adviser to Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned Trump that an Iranian strike in June on an American base in Qatar had demonstrated its ability to respond to any attack.
Trump should recall the attack on the Al Udeid Air Base, which proved “Iran’s will and capability to respond to any attack”, Ali Shamkhani wrote in a post on X after Washington repeatedly refused to rule out new military action against Iran.
Iran vows to fast-track trials
Iran on Wednesday also vowed to fast-track trials for people arrested over the massive wave of protests.
In Tehran, authorities held a funeral ceremony for over 100 members of the security forces and other “martyrs” killed in the demonstrations, which authorities have branded as “riots” while accusing protesters of waging “acts of terror”.
Judiciary chief Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei said on a visit to a prison holding protest detainees that “if a person burned someone, beheaded someone and set them on fire, then we must do our work quickly,” in comments broadcast by state television.
Iranian news agencies also quoted him as saying the trials should be held in public and said he had spent five hours in a prison in Tehran to examine the cases.
Footage broadcast by state media showed the judiciary chief seated before an Iranian flag in a large, ornate room in the prison, interrogating a prisoner himself.
The detainee, dressed in grey clothing and his face blurred, is accused of taking Molotov cocktails to a park in Tehran.
Pakistan’s Ambassador to Iran Mudassir Tipu wrote on X that “international calls from Iran’s mobiles and landlines have resumed”.
“This information will be helpful to our nationals to immediately establish contacts with their near and dear ones.”
