American military bases near Iran

0: Thumrait

1: Masirah

2: Seeb

US planes use Oman's main airport for Air Expeditionary Force deployments. The facility just outside Oman's capital has no noise restrictions, and services include maintaining war reserve materiel.

3: Eskan Village

The base is home to 274 US military personnel and civilians who provide integrated defence and combat support at the facility. The other bases in Saudi Arabia were shut down and equipment transferred to other Gulf countries around 2003.

4: Dhafra

5: Fujairah

US Naval Security Force Fujairah was mobilised in 2004. The Fujairah-Jebel Ali land link is the Navy's logistics pipeline, in the event that the Strait of Hormuz were to be blocked. A large naval base was opened there in 2010 to give the UAE more direct access to the Arabian Sea.

6: Jebel Ali

7: Abu Dhabi

The naval base at Abu Dhabi's Port Zayed is also called Peace Camp and is a French naval air station. In 2009, France's president Nicolas Sarkozy inaugurated the facilities, which is comprised of the naval station, a presence at Dhafra air base and a training camp at a desert site 50km from Abu Dhabi.

8: Udeid

At the beginning of the Second Gulf War in 2003, the US moved its air command centre from Saudi Arabia to Qatar. The expansive base can host several thousand US troops, in addition to the Qatari air force. While the main headquarters of CENTCOM is at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Florida, the forward headquarters has been at Al Udeid since 2009, when it moved from As Sayliyah, also in Qatar.

9: Sayliyah

The Camp As Sayliyah army base serves as the US military's largest pre-positioning facility in the world.

10: Sheikh Issa

11: Muharraq

Air field and military base adjacent to Bahrain International Airport run by the US Navy for shipping supplies in and out of the country.

12: Juffair

Naval Support Activity Bahrain is headquartered in the Juffair area of Manama, Bahrain's capital. The US Fifth Fleet has remained at its location despite sectarian unrest in Bahrain. More than 2,000 US troops in Bahrain monitor the Gulf and provide security for commercial maritime traffic.

13: Ali Al Salem

Military airbase near the Iraqi border owned by the Kuwaiti government and used by the Kuwait Air Force as well as the 386th Air Expeditionary Wing of the US Air Force.

14: Arifjan

15: Ahmed Al Jaber

This Kuwait Air Force installation has sections designed for use by the US Air Force, some 120km south of the Iraqi border.

16: Buehring

17: Patriot

18: Socotra

19: Manas

Unofficially called the Ganci Air Base, the Transit Center at Manas is a US logistics hub at Manas International Airport near Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan. Originally opened in 2001 to support US military operations in Afghanistan, the US agreed to pay higher rent after relations became strained with the government in 2009.

20: Dalbandin

US Marines use this airport as a base for operations in neighbouring Afghanistan.

21: Pasni

One of three air force facilities currently used by the US in Pakistan. However, following the evacuation of Shamsi Air Base, some Pakistani government officials threatened to close US access to the remaining bases.

22: Jacobabad

The Shahbaz Air Base is located in Sindh province, on the border with Balochistan, about 450km north of Karachi.

23: Incirlik

Used by US, UK and Turkish air forces, the base hosts more than 1,000 US air force personnel, primarily of the 39th Air Base Wing. The facility has been used to support operations in Afghanistan and Iraq. It is believed to host around 90 US nuclear warheads under NATO weapons-sharing agreements, and is part of US European Command, rather than CENTCOM.

24: Izmir

Izmir Air Base is located on the western coast of Turkey, 320km south of Istanbul. The base is a US Air Force facility whose squadron also manages support to Turkish airmen at Cigli Air Base. Much of the administrative work is done out of ordinary city office buildings, rather than at a single base location.

25: Ashgabat

A small US military contingent is in the capital of Turkmenistan to assist in refuelling operations and processing other supplies in transit to Afghanistan. The terminal at Ashgabat International Airport and the Mary-2 airfield are described as "subsidiary support bases" rather than "military bases", preserving the country's perceived neutrality. The US also utilises the Turkmen road and rail network.

26: USS Enterprise

The nuclear-powered aircraft carrier sailed to the Gulf from the Mediterranean, reportedly only the fourth time in the past decade that the US has simultaneously had two carriers in the region. The ship then made a port visit to Jebel Ali, UAE. As of May 1, the Enterprise was operating in the Arabian Sea conducting missions in support of Operation Enduring Freedom, according to the spokeswoman for the US Fifth Fleet. It has eight nuclear reactors on board and will be retired after seven months in the Middle East, on standby in case of pirate incidents near Somalia or conflict with Iran.

27: USS Carl Vinson

The aircraft carrier strike group was sent to the Arabian Sea in January just after Iran threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz, the world's most vital oil shipping lane. US officials said the ship arrived to replace the outgoing USS John C Stennis, which had departed in December 2011, as Iran told it to "never come back". The group is currently at Freemantle port in western Australia.

28: USS Abraham Lincoln

The aircraft carrier sailed into the Gulf through the Strait of Hormuz in January, which US officials described as part of a "regular rotation", despite escalating public tensions with Iran. As of May 1, the US Fifth Fleet spokeswoman said the group was "conducting maritime security operations in the Arabian Gulf".

29: USS Makin Island

As of April 19, the Makin Island big-deck amphibious assault warship was conducting maritime security operations and support missions throughout the Red Sea in the US Fifth Fleet area of responsibility.

30: Dimona

The US-owned and operated Dimona Radar Facility is in Israel's Negev Desert near the Dimona nuclear reactor. Located at Har Keren, the complex consists of two 400-metre tall X-Band radar towers designed to track ballistic missiles from up to 2,400km away. The information can be used to promote Middle East air defences, as well as serve as part of the early warning system for Europe, according to some sources. The location has been staffed by as many as 120 US technicians and guards who are part of the US European Command rather than CENTCOM.

31: Haifa

32: Lemonnier

US Naval Expeditionary Base at Camp Lemonnier in the Djibouti-Ambouli International Airport is home to the Combined Joint Task Force - Horn of Africa within the US Africa Command (AFRICOM). Until 2008, the base was under the authority of CENTCOM.

33: Diego Garcia

In a strategically important UK-administered location under the Pacific Command, US Naval Support Facility Diego Garcia is informally known as Camp Thunder Grove and has been the site of several joint exercises between the US and Indian navies.

34: Akrotiri

Along with Dhekelia, one of two sovereign British air bases in Cyprus. The facilities are retained by the UK under the 1960 Cyprus treaty of independence and house several thousand British troops and their families.

35: Dhekelia

Along with Akrotiri, one of two sovereign British air bases in Cyprus. They are retained by the UK under the 1960 Cyprus treaty of independence and house several thousand British troops and their families.

36: Bagram

This airfield is one of the largest US military bases in Afghanistan, with a dual-runway militarised airport next to the ancient city of Bagram. The base is run by a US Army division but largely owned by the US Air Force's 455th Expeditionary Wing. The Parwan detention facility at Bagram holds around 3,000 prisoners.

37: Shindand

Shindand Air Base is in western Afghanistan's Herat province, some 120km from the Iranian border. Once the largest Afghan Air Force base, the facility is now used by ISAF and the US 838th Air Expeditionary Advisory Group. Iranian officials have alleged that the CIA runs drone monitoring operations over Iran from here.

38: Kandahar

Kandahar Airfield is 16km southeast of Kandahar city and was built by the US in the 1960s, with refurbishments completed in 2007 for military and civilian flights. The facility has been maintained by NATO since 2006 and includes an advanced treatment hospital for some of the war's worst casualties.

39: Bastion

The main British military base in Afghanistan, Camp Bastion accommodates some 30,000 people and is situated northwest of Lashkar Gah, the capital of Helmand province. Built in 2006, the camp is in a remote desert area, far from population centres. The base has a busy airfield, along with adjoining US base Camp Leatherneck and Danish Camp Viking.

40: Dwyer

A military base and air field of the US Marine Corps, Camp Dwyer is in an inhospitable area of the Garmsir District in the Helmand River Valley. Previously a forward operating base, the facility was expanded in 2009, though it has few amenities and no permanent structures.

41: Delaram

FOB Delaram is a US Marine Corps base that is home to the 3rd Battalion and in close proximity to locals. The barracks house more than 1,000 soldiers and living conditions are modest.

42: Eggers

Camp Eggers is a US base near the US embassy and Afghan president's palace. In one of the busiest areas of Kabul, the facility is also used by members of the Australian, Canadian, New Zealand, Romanian and Geman armed forces.

43: Phoenix

On the outskirts of Kabul, Camp Phoenix hosts the Combined Joint Task Force Phoenix, which trains the Afghan National Army. It also hosts the 855th Air Expeditionary Squadron.

44: Nathan Smith

Camp Nathan Smith is located in a former fruit factory in Kandahar. It was built by US Army soldiers from the 3rd Battalion in 2003 and turned over to the Canadian military in 2005.

45: Tinsley

Firebase Tinsley, formerly Firebase Cobra, is a US military fire support base in Oruzgan Province used by US special forces.

46: Delhi

Forward Operating Base Delhi is a military expeditionary base built by the US Marine Corps along the Helmand River Valley. It was transferred to the British army in 2008 before being switched again to Task Force Leatherneck of the US Marines.

47: Salerno

Also known as Firebase Salerno, Forward Operating Base Salerno is in the southeastern province of Khost. Near the Pakistani border, it has been nicknamed "Rocket City" due to the quantity of incoming mortar rounds. 

48: Chapman

Camp Chapman is a military base on the site of a former Afghan army installation currently being used by the CIA. A double agent carried out a suicide bomb attack against the base in 2009 to strike at the heart of the covert US drone programme.

49: Ramrod

Forward Operating Base Ramrod is in the Maywand District of Kandahar province and was initially built by the Fort Hood Bravo Company 62nd Engineer Battalion. Five US soldiers there faced criminal charges in 2010 after allegedly using body parts of murdered Afghan civilians as trophies.

50: Robinson

FOB Robinson is located next to the Helmand River near the town of Heyderabad. The base, used by US special forces, was named for a US soldier killed in Sangin district.

51: Gardez

Firebase Gardez, once a Taliban stronghold, is a US outpost in Paktia province near the Pakistani border and provides a base for more than 6,000 Afghan soldiers.

52: Jaker

Used by the US Marine Corps, Patrol Base Jaker in the Helmand Valley village of Naveh-Barakzai was originally built by the British Army's Task Force Helmand in 2008. It is the setting for the film Patrol Base Jaker.