Chris Murphy says Pentagon blocked him from military base in Qatar and Iran strike on US embassy in Riyadh far worse than public led to believe

Senator Chris Murphy said the Pentagon blocked him from a major US base in Qatar, yet saw enough damage on the US embassy in Saudi Arabia to conclude that an Iranian strike would have been deadly had it happened during the day.

The Connecticut Democrat, who sits on the Senate foreign relations and appropriations committees, described the destruction he witnessed in Riyadh as “extraordinary” and much more damaging than the public has been led to believe.

“Had that attack happened during the daytime, there’s no doubt that there would have been many, many Americans killed,” he told reporters on a call after returning from Qatar and Saudi Arabia. He also accused the Pentagon of trying to prevent Congress from seeing the costs of the war first-hand, saying the Pentagon secretary, Pete Hegseth, was “determined to hide the cost and the consequences of this war from the American public”.