An Iranian attack on an air base in Qatar that's key to the U.S. military hit a geodesic dome housing equipment used by the Americans for secure communications, satellite images analyzed Friday by The Associated Press show.

Pentagon officials had not previously acknowledged any damage at the base from an Iranian missile attack and had said that U.S. forces there "successfully defended against the attack."

Satellite images show that an Iranian missile strike against the Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, a critical site for the U.S. military 's operations in the region, likely destroyed a geodesic dome housing key secure communications equipment used by American forces.