Some personnel at key US base in Qatar advised to evacuate

WASHINGTON — Some personnel at a key U.S. military base in Qatar were advised to evacuate by Wednesday evening, according to a U.S. official and the Gulf country, as President Donald Trump warned of possible action after a deadly crackdown on protesters in Iran.

The decision came as a senior official in Tehran brought up the country's retaliatory attack in June at Al Udeid Air Base outside Doha, Qatar.

The U.S. official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, described the move at the base as precautionary and said such measures also were being taken across the region.

The official, citing the need for operational security, would not go into further detail, including whether the evacuation was optional or mandatory, whether it affected troops or civilian personnel, or how many people were advised to leave.

The U.S. Embassy in Qatar issued a notice early Thursday saying it “advised its personnel to exercise increased caution and limit non-essential travel” to Al Udeid Air Base. “We recommend U.S. citizens in Qatar do the same,” it added.

In Kuwait, the U.S. Embassy ordered a “temporary halt” to its personnel going to multiple military bases in the small Gulf Arab country. Kuwait is home to U.S. Army Central, the service’s Mideast command.

The threats emerged even as Trump made a series of vague statements in a span of 24 hours that left unclear what American action, if any, would take place against Iran. The Islamic Republic shut its airspace to commercial flights early Thursday morning for several hours, without explanation, a notice to pilots read.

Trump said Wednesday he was told "on good authority" that plans for executions in Iran stopped, though he offered few details.

He told protesting Iranians in recent days that "help is on the way" and his administration would "act accordingly" to respond to the Iranian government. Trump didn't offer details about how the U.S. might respond and it wasn’t clear if his comments Wednesday indicated he would hold off on action.

The antigovernment demonstrations in Iran began in December, and Trump said he was willing to conduct military operations against Iran if the Tehran government continues to kill and arrest protesters.

Iranian officials signaled Wednesday that fast trials and executions lay ahead for suspects detained in the protests while the Islamic Republic promised a “decisive response” if the U.S. or Israel intervene in the domestic unrest.

Mohammad Pakpour, commander of Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, reiterated Iranian claims, without providing evidence, that the U.S. and Israel instigated the protests and are the real killers of protesters and security forces in the turmoil, according to Iran’s semiofficial Tasnim news agency.

Earlier Wednesday, Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei, Iran’s judiciary chief, said the government must act quickly to punish more than 18,000 detainees through rapid trials and executions.

Activists warned that hangings of detainees could come soon. 

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The security force crackdown on the demonstrations killed at least 2,586, the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency reported. The death toll exceeds that of any other round of protest or unrest in Iran in decades and recalls the chaos surrounding the country’s 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Iran extended an order closing its airspace to commercial aircraft without explanation early Thursday.

'Regional tensions'

Qatar said the measures at Al Udeid base were "undertaken in response to the current regional tensions."

"The State of Qatar continues to implement all necessary measures to safeguard the security and safety of its citizens and residents as a top priority, including actions related to the protection of critical infrastructure and military facilities," Qatar's international media office said on social media.

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The base, which hosts thousands of American service members, was targeted by Iran in June in retaliation for U.S. strikes on its nuclear facilities.

Ali Shamkhani, an adviser to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, wrote on social media that "the #US President, who repeatedly talks about the futile aggression against #Iran's nuclear facilities, would do well to also mention the destruction of the US base in #Al-Udeid by Iranian missiles."

"It would certainly help create a real understanding of Iran's will and ability to respond to any aggression," he added.

The U.S. military maintains a variety of troops in the region, including at Al Udeid, but the Trump administration shifted some resources from the Middle East to the Caribbean Sea as part of a pressure campaign on former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.

The world's largest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford, was ordered in October to sail from the Mediterranean Sea to the Caribbean along with several destroyers. The carrier USS Nimitz, which helped conduct the June strikes on Iran's nuclear program, also departed the region in October.

The Navy had five small ships — two destroyers and three littoral combat ships — in the waters off Iran as of Tuesday.

The Pentagon declined to comment on questions about the changes at Al Udeid. The State Department had no immediate comment on the potential for any security alerts to be issued for American diplomats or other civilians in Qatar.

People rally around the world in support of protests in Iran, in photos