US sends additional Patriot batteries to Saudi Arabia and Qatar: Report

Submitted by MEE staff on Fri, 10/02/2026 - 20:15 Deployments come as the US deploys a new aircraft carrier and thousands of marines to the region

US and Israeli army officers walk in front of a US Patriot missile defence system during the joint Israeli-US military exercise 'Juniper Cobra' at the Israeli Hatzor Air Force Base, on 8 March 2018 (Jack Guez/AFP)
Off

The US has deployed additional Patriot air defence batteries to Saudi Arabia and Qatar, as President Donald Trump says he is weighing whether to resume attacking Iran.

The US sent one additional Patriot battery to Saudi Arabia to protect a key oil facility and another to Qatar to protect a natural gas facility, Axios reported Thursday.

The deployments are notable because Patriot batteries are in high demand worldwide, and the US has a limited supply. The US has just 33 batteries stationed at home and 27 batteries stationed overseas, according to the nonprofit Missile Defence Alliance.

The US’s allies, including Gulf states like Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE, already operate their own batteries, but have relied on Washington for additional protection as they have borne the brunt of Iran’s retaliation for US and Israeli attacks.

Saudi Arabia is in a particularly difficult position with its energy infrastructure and cities coming under attack from Houthi fighters in Yemen and Shia militias in Iraq. The kingdom attributed an attack on its East-West Pipeline to the latter, although the Houthis have also attacked Yanbu, the kingdom’s main oil export port.

Gulf states felt sidelined by the US earlier this year when they faced intense Iranian barrages in response to the US-Israeli war on Iran. The US’s decades-old security umbrella that underwrote its relationship with the energy-rich Gulf has come under scrutiny as a result of the war.

The latest deployments come as Trump says he is weighing new strikes on Iran, calling a new escalation “possible” on Thursday.

“Now I have to make a decision; they’ll either sign a very fair deal, or they won’t exist any longer,” he said, reiterating his threat to destroy the Islamic Republic.

The US is sending thousands of troops and a third aircraft carrier strike group to the Middle East.

The aircraft carrier, USS Theodore Roosevelt, departed from San Diego on Sunday, and the USS Makin Island Amphibious Ready Group, comprising three amphibious ships carrying around 10,000 Marines, left on Monday.

The US already has the USS George HW Bush and USS George Washington in the region, which would bring the total number of aircraft carriers in the region to three, the highest since April 2026.

War on Iran News Post Date Override 0 Update Date Mon, 05/04/2020 - 21:19 Update Date Override 0