A new Qatari air force facility will be built in Idaho, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced on Friday.
“Today we’re signing a letter of acceptance to build a Qatar Emiri air force facility at the Mountain Home Airbase in Idaho,” Hegseth told reporters. “It’s just another example of our partnership.”
Hegseth said that the facility would host a contingent of Qatari F-15s and pilots.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for more details about the arrangement.
The announcement came as Hegseth thanked Qatar for its role in peace talks between Israel and Hamas. Qatar, along with the United States and Egypt, helped mediate the cease-fire negotiations that were held in Egypt this week. President Donald Trump announced on Wednesday that Israel and Hamas had agreed to the first phase of a cease-fire deal.
“No one other than President Trump could have achieved the peace—what we believe will be a lasting peace—in Gaza, and Qatar played a substantial role from the beginning, working with our folks to make sure that came about,” Hegseth said on Friday.
By Friday, Israel pulled its troops back to agreed positions in the Gaza Strip. Hamas has 72 hours to release the remaining 48 Israeli hostages, 20 of whom are thought to still be alive, under the terms of the deal.
At the end of September, Trump signed an Executive Order stating that the “United States shall regard any armed attack on the territory, sovereignty, or critical infrastructure of the State of Qatar as a threat to the peace and security of the United States.”
In a controversial move a few months earlier, Trump accepted a luxury Boeing 747 jet from Qatar to use as Air Force One. Democrats attempted to block funding to turn the jet into Air Force One, but Republicans rejected that effort on Thursday.
Nik Popli contributed.
The post New Qatari Air Force Facility to Be Built in Idaho, Hegseth Announces appeared first on TIME.
