US senator says Pentagon barred him from Qatar base to hide the Iran war's costs

Chris Murphy, the Democratic US senator from Connecticut and a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, planned an October 2026 trip to Qatar and Saudi Arabia seeking to assess the Iran war’s effects on US facilities and regional relationships. He was the first Democratic lawmaker to visit the region since the war began in late February.

Before departing, Murphy’s office was told that the Department of Defense would not support his access to Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar. The senator had said he wanted “to see firsthand the impact of the Iran War, the damage it's caused to our facilities in the region, and how it's harmed our relationships with partners in the region”.

Al Udeid is the largest US base in the region and has repeatedly been attacked by Iran during the war launched by the US and Israel in February. The conflict has continued for more than seven months.

Murphy travelled first to Doha and then to Riyadh as part of a congressional delegation. Secretary of State Marco Rubio facilitated the visit, arranging meetings with Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al Thani, the Qatari Emir, and Mohammed bin Salman, the Saudi Crown Prince.

While Murphy was in the region, the Pentagon also refused to arrange a briefing for him on the war.

Speaking to reporters in Riyadh, Murphy said the denial of access showed an attempt to keep Congress and the public in the dark. “This trip confirmed for me that there is an active, unprecedented, unconstitutional effort underway to hide the costs of this war and the implications of this war from Congress and the American people,” he said.

He added: “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”.

A senior Pentagon official pointed to a directive issued by Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth on March 3, 2026, restricting travel to the area. The official said: “The Department applies the Secretary's guidance evenly”.

The Pentagon has not said why Al Udeid was off limits to Murphy beyond that travel directive, or what a war briefing would have covered. Murphy’s charge comes as many members of Congress, including some of President Donald Trump’s Republicans, press the administration for more information on the war’s cost, strategy and casualties.