In major policy shift, Trump vows to treat attack on Qatar as threat to US security

In an act dubbed as unprecedented, US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order to provide security guarantees to Qatar. The executive order said that an external attack on Qatar will amount to an attack on the United States.

In the case of such an attack, the United States will use diplomatic, economic, and, if necessary, military means to defend Qatar, according to the executive order.

Journalist Barak Ravid said on X that it was an unprecedented security agreement between the United States and an Arab state.

Trump’s reassurance to Qatar has come at a time when West Asia is tense after the Israeli bombing of Hamas’ office in Qatari capital Doha. Following the Israeli bombing, doubts arose among Arab rulers whether their decadeslong reliance on implicit US security guarantees was just a mirage. But Trump’s unprecedented security guarantee to Qatar suggests how deeply he holds US-Qatar ties and how strongly he opposed the Israeli attack on Qatari soil.

‘It’s US policy to guarantee security, territorial integrity of Qatar’

In recognition of Qatar hosting US forces for a long time and helping the United States resolve regional and global conflicts, Trump said in the executive order that it will now be US policy to “guarantee the security and territorial integrity of the State of Qatar against external attack”.

Under the executive order, Trump said that the United States “shall regard any armed attack on the territory, sovereignty, or critical infrastructure of the State of Qatar as a threat to the peace and security of the United States”.

In the event of such an attack, the United States shall take all lawful and appropriate measures —including diplomatic, economic, and, if necessary, military— to defend the interests of the United States and of the State of Qatar and to restore peace and stability, the executive order further read.