Senator Murphy says the Pentagon barred him from Al Udeid to hide the damage of the Iran war

Democratic Senator Chris Murphy has accused the Pentagon of a “cover-up” after he was not allowed into Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, the largest US military installation in the Middle East, which was damaged in Iranian attacks during the war. Murphy first made the accusation on Tuesday, October 6, in Riyadh, according to Reuters, and repeated it at a press briefing on Thursday, October 8, after the trip.

“They are using every tool they can, including withholding information about damages,” Murphy told reporters, according to Military Times, accusing the administration of “slow walking the pace of reports about casualties and denying us access to see the damage” in “a campaign of cover-up, so as to mask the true cost of the war”. He also said, “There is an active cover-up going on right now,” as CT Mirror reported. The senator, a member of the Foreign Relations and Defense Appropriations committees, travelled to the region with a congressional delegation and had requested the visit by letter and directly from CENTCOM leadership.

The Pentagon’s response

A senior Department of War official told Military Times that Murphy’s office was informed before the trip that he would not receive support to access the base, in line with the Secretary of War’s travel-restriction directive for the region, issued on March 3, 2026. “The Department applies the Secretary’s guidance evenly,” the official added. The State Department had backed the senator’s trip, and Murphy said Secretary of State Marco Rubio had arranged meetings with diplomats.

Murphy called the refusal “unprecedented” and said he would draft language requiring the department to allow members of Congress access to overseas bases when needed. He acknowledged that it will not pass before the end of the year (“I don’t have any illusions that that’s going to pass between now and the end of the year”) but expects it to enter next year’s debate on the defense appropriations bill and the NDAA. The accusation follows the Congressional Research Service report on at least 81 US aircraft lost or damaged in the war.

The strike on the Riyadh embassy

In March, the State and War departments issued guidance urging Americans to leave parts of the Middle East and advising against travel to countries including Qatar. On the same day, the US embassy in Riyadh was hit by two Iranian drones. Murphy, who visited the embassy during the trip, said several floors were hit and part of the building is now “uninhabitable”. There were no casualties, but he said that had the attack happened during the day, many Americans would have been killed.

Murphy said Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth “is determined to hide the cost and the consequences of this war from the American public”, and that it is “absolutely outrageous” that he and Republican senators are being denied the ability to see the damage. He noted that during the Iraq and Afghanistan wars members of Congress routinely visited bases, since Congress decides on funding.